Die Hard movies best to worst

One of the best action movies ever made. The confined setting in a skyscraper is a big part of what makes the tension in this movie great and the film also does a good job at conveying the physical punishment that the hero McClane is going through. The chemistry between McClane and the villain Hans Gruber is classic and a big part of what makes the film work so well. There is also the tension between McClane and various law enforcement who simply don't trust him and sometimes work against him with the exception of one sympathetic cop which also has chemistry with McClane. The movie taking place during Christmas and at night also adds a unique atmosphere that was also used in the next film and the Michael Kamen score also added to the feel of the movie as well as his scores to the next few films. In general the closer the sequels were in style to this film the better they were.

A great action movie with plenty of stunts and drama. It's style is very close to the first Die Hard film, in fact a bit too close, sometimes it seems the only difference is that it takes place at an airport this time. There were several cameos of characters from the previous film that seemed a bit too coincidental and just seemed to be there for the heck of it (i.e. the black cop, Mrs. McClane, the LA new reporter) but I found the scenes with them entertaining nevertheless. The main villain had much less chemistry and interaction with McClane than with the villain in the first film but he was effective enough and the secondary villains picked up the slack. I did like the secondary characters like Fred Thompson and the airport cop as well as the double crossing henchmen posing as a good guy at first then siding with the villain that provided a nice twist for the film. Makes for an excellent double bill with the first film given that both take place at Christmas time and are set mostly at night, aside from that Die Hard 2 is virtually tied with Vengeance.

A great action movie that recaptures the essence of what makes the series good while being original at the same time. The chemistry between Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson is great and makes the movie that much more fun. I liked the scavenger hunt life and death chase all over New York City and I think it showcassed the city quite well and I admit to liking films that are set in big cities and incoroprate their unique locals into a plot of a good movie and this does just that. There also is that chemistry between McClane and the villain who is the brother of the villain from the first film and that chemistry between hero and villain is a big part of what made the first film great and was done very well here, the "Simon says" routine added so much to this chemistry between the vilain and protaganists. I consider Vengeance and Die Hard 2 to be virtual ties, this movie is just a bit different stylistically than the second, it is set in summer and mostly during the day as opposed to during the winter and at night as the first two were, the change is welcome though, it is a film for a slightly different mood, a variation on a theme.

An entertaining action movie that brings back some of the nostalgia from the other Die Hard films. I liked the action scenes in this movie, comparable to the previous films even if there was a little bit of CGI and pseudo realism (jet surfing scene) but nothing glaringly out there in my opinion. The appealing to a more youthful audience (i.e. McClane's sidekick being young and the main villains being in their 20's and 30's, as hackers it makes some sense but it is a contrast to the previous villains being closer to Willis' age), maybe this was due to Bruce Willis' advancing age or just reflecting trends in Hollywood but I was fine with it and I think the main villain was effective and had motives as understandable as the previous villains in the series. A few minor complaints I have is that the profanity and conflicts with competing law enforcement and agencies that was a staple of the previous films could have been antied up a bit but at least that tension was still there to some degree. Overall though a quite satisfactory and entertaining but not outstanding action film.

This movie did not live up to it's promising trailer. This almost felt like a straight to DVD movie. Everything was generic and seemed to only be cashing in on the nostalgia of the Die Hard franchise. There were three different villains in the movie that were transitioned by two plot twists and the end result was none of the villains were well developed nor interesting and thus the plot twists revealing them were not interesting either. The father and son story showed some promise on paper but the execution was just poor. I can't even say the actors did a good job, Jai Courtney has no charisma with Willis and even Bruce Willis himself is phoning this one in. The movie was way too short, about 30 minutes shorter than the other films, if there were of similar length of the previous four films there would have been time to develop all this more and solve many of these problems. This would be a poor final entry in the series if that is to be the case. Recommended only for Die Hard completists as I would only watch this movie again as part of a Die Hard marathon. What a shame, what a waste of an entry not worthy of the great Die Hard franchise.