It's not secret that as viscerally capable as Bruce Willis truly is and typically living up to his accomplished name, he has of course played a cop in just every other movie and here are some films where he essentially is coming off as an unofficial John McClane:
- 16 Blocks- Though different in tone, this has often been labeled as a "McClane nearing retirement" type of film.
- Hostage- while this is also about a disgraced police officer, this is just a solid adaptation of Robert Crais' novel (although one can argue once more that it's not that original when Die Hard films are in general inspired by novels), Bruce levels up his performance up a notch in order to fully bring this disgraced yet committed authority figure to life.
- Mercury Rising- This time, it's a disgraced police officer caught in a spy thriller yarn; some fun to be had despite being rather predictable at times.
- The Last Boy Scout- I've tried three times to get through this dreadful cult film but alas it's just another failed buddy cop film by Tony Scott and Lethal Weapon scribe Shane Black that despite neat chemistry between Willis and Damon Wayans, having it's fair share of action and a few kick-ass one-liners, the soul of the film is never really there and it takes it's sweet time getting started and by the time it truly does, the interest level has left the room. Overall, it also comes off as a side-mission for McClane despite his character being a former SS agent (yeah right!).
- Fire with Fire- Another cops versus vicious criminals mix-up that's not as clever or original as it wishes it was but can be fun to watch.
- Striking Distance- Another mystery-action thriller with some romance and once again by-the-numbers twists, this was notable at it's respective time for having some car flipping action and later for Bruce Willis bashing it on television and then years later having to make an apology to his fans who did actually admire it.
Movies That Wouldn't Be Unofficial Die Hard Sequels[]
- The Fifth Element- It's a fairly entertaining film and it feels like Die Hard-on-a-spaceship mid-way through the film but the character Korben Dallas doesn't behave all the much like McClane and is instead a fairly new and cool other character for Bruce to add to his resume.
- Cop Out- Be that as it may, this mediocre tribute to stupid buddy cop films might not be the worst in the world, it's still rather forgettable. Even then, Bruce's character never even feels like McClane- more like just Bruce just being himself while everyone else involved with the film continues to embarrass themselves.
- The Siege- While this is a Die Hard scenario film no problem, Willis' character is nothing at all resembling McClane. He's simply a callous general who will do anything to hurt those he feels are responsible for attacks and if they're innocent, then it's all okay for him to have violating every single civil rights doctrine there is out there since he does love his country after all.