It generally brings me no joy to report on the cancellation of a film project of any kind. It happens all the time, actually. Sometimes a script doesn’t get picked up by a movie studio, or they don’t get money for the project, or something tragic happens, but movie projects can get cancelled for many reasons. Anybody who knows me, knows how much of an action movie junkie I am. One of my favorite action movies of ALL TIME was Die Hard. The original movie starred Bruce Willis as New York cop John McClane as he finds himself in a high-rise building taken over by terrorists. Said terrorists are lead by the charismatic, yet enigmatic Hans Gruber, played to eloquent perfection by the late great Alan Rickman. Die Hard was the movie that shot Bruce Willis into superstardom as the next big action hero. Die Hard is a true action classic by any fan of movies. Die Hard 2 took place in an airport, and while it wasn’t as good as the first, it was still wildly entertaining. Die Hard With A Vengeance was the third film, and reunited Bruce Willis with director John McTiernan, and brought Jeremy Irons on board as Simon Gruber, the brother of Hans Gruber, and introduced Samuel L. Jackson as Zeus, a pawn shop owner. Again, this was a legitimately great action film, and one of the better sequels to come out in the early 90s. Live Free or Die Hard was the first in the franchise to receive a PG-13 rating, but it was still a lot of fun, but an R-rated version was later released on DVD. That brings me to the last Die Hard film to be released: A Good Day to Die Hard. Despite what many people say about the movie, I enjoyed it to a certain extent, but the fact was not lost on me that this movie is one of the most generic action movies ever made. That’s not something you want to hear about a Die Hard movie. Die Hard 5 was generic in every single way. The Russian villains were generic, the plot surrounding a nuclear device was generic, and even the action sequences were incredibly generic. There was NOT an aspect of this movie that hasn’t been done better. Olympus Has Fallen was a better Die Hard movie, and it wasn’t a Die Hard movie.
That brings us to Die Hard 6, or McClane as it was initially announced. A couple years back, it was announced that a 5th sequel to Die Hard would involve the story of John McClane jumping back and forth between when the character was a rookie cop, to present day. It sounded interesting, but considering how phoned in that Bruce Willis’ performance was in the last movie, I had no real expectations that this was going to be any good. Well, according to Polygon, the Die Hard prequel is no more. Why? Well, when Disney bought 20th Century Fox, a lot of the franchises that belonged to Fox, were now under the Disney umbrella. While some franchises appear to have survived, others have been put on the back burner. Die Hard is apparently one of those that’s been shelved. I’m not surprised. The response to the previous two films was not positive, although Live Free or Die Hard fared a bit better, but number 5 got torn to shreds, with critics labeling Bruce Willis’ performance as one of the worst of his career. So, where do I stand on this? I’m a huge fan of the franchise. I always have been. I’ve even given the last two movies a lot of lee-way in terms of entertainment, but Die Hard 5 was so aggressively generic, that I couldn’t muster up the energy to hate it. And it breaks my heart that Bruce Willis is at the point where he just doesn’t even care anymore. Between 1988 and 2007, his career was at an all-time high. He had roles all over the place from The Jackal, The Whole Nine Yards, The Sixth Sense, The Fifth Element, and Unbreakable. He was one of the most versatile and bankable stars in Hollywood. He was Hollywood royalty. But over the last decade, he’s been phoning in his performances more and more, to the point where it is clear that he cares more about getting a paycheck than the art. So, I’m actually glad that they decided NOT to proceed with another Die Hard movie. The last thing the fans need is another entry in a franchise that has been dragged through the mud by an actor that no longer cares.
Does the cancellation of Die Hard 6 mean the end of Die Hard in general? Maybe, maybe not. It’s been nearly a decade since the last film, but even so, I think it’s time to lay it rest. When people are asked about Die Hard, they don’t remember the last two movies. No, they go back to the original three? Some will say, “that one at the airport,” which is Die Hard 2, or “that one with Samuel L. Jackson.” The original trilogy is a group of movies that have stood the test of time and are the ones that people remember most. Not just for being awesome action movie, but for the way they were made. The first three movies were done in an era where CGI was still in an experimental stage. They had barely begun to grasp the power of CGI. The first three Die Hard movies didn’t use CGI, or at least very little in the third film. It was mostly done practically, and you can feel the danger that John McClane was getting himself into. He was the everyman that you could relate to. In Die Hard 5, he was just an ass that punched random people and stole their cars. THAT’S not the McClane that audiences rooted for. Could Disney bring back Die Hard at some point? Possibly, but I don’t think they would, since movies like John Wick and Olympus Has Fallen have taken the genre to new heights. It’s time to move on from Die Hard.