As beloved as John McClane is, it’s too late for Bruce Willis to return for Die Hard 6. While the debate over whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie shows no signs of dying, there’s no real debate that it’s one of the best action movies ever made. So much comes together to make Die Hard what it is, including a well-paced, sharp-witted script that makes sure the thrills never pause for too long once they’ve started. Still, a new Die Hard wouldn’t work without a great cast, and Willis leads that group of excellent performances.
While many Die Hard devotees have taken issue with how John has become less and less an every-man and more a one-man army over the course of the franchise, this hasn’t dissuaded millions from loving John McClane. Unfortunately, Die Hard has seen better days as a property, with director John Moore’s A Good Day to Die Hard getting trashed by critics and even being enough to send many formerly loyal viewers running for the hills. A Die Hard 6 featuring Willis’ return as John has been threatened several times in the years since, but at this late stage, that ship has truly sailed. It’s time to let John McClane rest.
The Last Two Die Hard Movies Were Disappointing
When a movie is as great as Die Hard, it’s no surprise that none of its sequels have measured up. It’s a tall bar to clear. Still, Die Hard 2 and Die Hard with a Vengeance definitely have lots of admirers, and plenty of franchise devotees consider them to be, at the very least, worthy follow-ups – although Willis actually doesn’t like Die Hard 2 much. It’s with the fourth Die Hard movie, 2007’s Live Free or Die Hard, that cracks started to show in the series’ foundation.
It’s certainly still fun to watch Willis’s McClane take down various bad guys, and there are some jaw-dropping action sequences, but the move to PG-13 from the R-rating did the movie no favors. While not the hardest Rs in the world, the first three Die Hard movies never shied away from embracing the freedom such a rating offered when it came to adult language and graphic violence. The same can be expected if Die Hard 6 or any other new Die Hard projects push through.
The change to PG-13 for Live Free or Die Hard, which introduced John McClane’s daughter Lucy, was very noticeable, as it felt punches were being pulled all over the place. Outside of that, the sudden change from McClane being an every-man to superhero was jarring and hurt the character. McClane made it out of the first three movies by the skin of his teeth, but in Live Free or Die Hard, he repeatedly survives things that should’ve left him a mangled corpse.
A Good Day to Die Hard went back to an R-rating, but sadly, that couldn’t help save it. Between an awful script, Jai Courtney giving a flat performance as John McClane’s son, and Willis himself seeming to sleepwalk through the proceedings, the movie fell flat. This is part of why anticipation isn’t exactly high for Die Hard 6 or new Die Hard spinoffs, if any.
Die Hard Wouldn’t Work Without Bruce Willis
As Paradise City will be Bruce Willis’ last movie due to his struggle with aphasia, audiences can no longer expect the actor to be featured in Die Hard 6, and the fact is that the franchise simply does not work without Willis. Aphasia deteriorates language cognition, which is why Willis has chosen to retire after Paradise City. Without John McClane, any new Die Hard project will be lacking its most crucial element.
Bruce Willis’ John McClane is Die Hard. While the cast, script, and production all came together to create arguably the greatest American action movie ever, Willis is the singular, central figure that enabled the film’s phenomenal success. It’s impossible to recast John McClane, and a new Die Hard without John wouldn’t feel like a real franchise installment. Willis made the franchise, and Die Hard 6 can’t just replace him, leaving the franchise dead in the water. There’s currently no reason for Hollywood to pursue a Die Hard sequel.
The Die Hard Franchise Should Be Retired
Even if Bruce Willis wasn’t retiring from acting and making the decision not to pursue Die Hard 6 himself, Hollywood itself should just let the franchise be. In this age of studios desperately trying to extract every bit of cash they can get from their existing intellectual property, it’s not surprising that Fox/Disney want to make another Die Hard. They’ve certainly tried pretty hard to get a prequel or another sequel in motion in the last few years, and to be fair, any new Die Hard project – even if it’s not Die Hard 6 – is bound to make it big in the box office. Yet, to paraphrase Jurassic Park‘s Ian Malcolm, Fox seems so preoccupied with whether it can make a Die Hard 6 happen that they’re not stopping to consider if they should.
The evidence is readily available as to why they shouldn’t. Live Free or Die Hard was a clear step or two below the first three, and A Good Day to Die Hard‘s quality full-on jumped off a cliff. If the last movies did well, then maybe it’s conceivable for the franchise to somehow replace Willis with a different actor following his retirement. However, this isn’t the case, and the previous movies haven’t done anything to develop a lead that could possibly step into one of Bruce Willis’ most iconic roles. Indeed, Willis is so synonymous with the franchise – despite Willis’ controversial Die Hard casting at the time – that replacing him as lead is a fool’s errand.
If it does get made, Die Hard 6 is bound for disaster. More and more, it would appear that Die Hard never should’ve left the 1980s and 1990s, as it’s felt like a franchise out of time since. Die Hard works best when it’s at least mostly grounded in reality, while today’s Fast and Furious dominated era demands wilder, suspension of disbelief-shattering action set-pieces. Die Hard is a ghost of Christmas past, not its future.
