Flasz On Film

As much as it is a tattered cliché at this point, Christmas isn’t complete until Hans Gruber hits the pavement. And although it shouldn’t ever be a subject of any serious debate – after all, Die Hard really isn’t a Christmas movie because (a) it’s OK to watch it outside of the Holiday season and (b) it wasn’t conceived as one in the first place – I bet you’ve come across at least a bunch of new articles and thinkpieces arguing their case for or against it being a Christmas movie.  

I’m not here to contribute to this debate. I don’t require a reason to put on Die Hard and bask in the awesomeness of this film, which truly stands head and shoulders above most action movies, but the Christmas season combined with the elevated presence of this movie in the cultural conversation has brought me here to reflect on something slightly different. That we most likely won’t see another sequel to the long-standing Die Hard series.  

Now, I am perfectly aware that ever since the Len Wiseman-directed Live Free or Die Hard (or as it was released in my neck of the woods, Die Hard 4.0), the franchise has not been doing well. I haven’t been the fondest of the last two instalments myself. However, I’d lie if I told you I’m unable to extract any enjoyment out of watching them. In fact, I may have rewatched them more frequently than some other movies I consider great. Maybe it’s because they are truly rewatchable and digestible. Or maybe it’s because I subconsciously know there’s no hope of ever seeing another one be made, let alone any hope of it coming close to the quality of its strongest incarnations.  

This year it seems to have hit me particularly hard because of the news concerning Bruce Willis’ deteriorating health. I’m sure I’m not alone in empathizing with his family because any form of dementia, or in fact any neurodegenerative disorder many of which we barely understand let alone have any concept of treating or reversing, is a truly frightening diagnosis. I simply cannot imagine what it must feel like to slowly lose control of your own body in consequence of your brain wasting away inexplicably. The idea of losing any of your senses is truly devastating, not to mention your entire capability to process thoughts, to remember things, to recognize people, or to communicate with them. Truly crushing.  

I think it goes without saying that any hopes of us ever seeing Bruce Willis act may have been dashed for ever. And I don’t want this to come across as insensitive or that I care about it only because I won’t get to see one of my favourite action heroes come back to the screen. I mean, I do care about it, too; but I understand and feel sorry for Bruce and his family. 

However, having said that, I also feel sorry for Willis’ legacy as the character of John McClane he helped to create and later almost internalized as a part of his visage will probably never get the redemption it deserves. We are now so far removed from 1988 when Die Hard saw the light of day, or even the 90s when Die Hard 2 (aka Die Harder) and Die Hard with a Vengeance followed, that we may forget how much this series contributed to the shift in action filmmaking. I think it goes without saying that John McClane contributed seriously to the transition from a muscle man to an everyman action star. Its success catalyzed the career of Andrew Davis who later made Under Siege and Chain Reaction (both arguably owing a lot to Die Hard), consolidated a foundation for guys like Keanu Reeves and Brandon Lee to come to the fore and bred a whole subgenre of movies. And I just think that of all the Hollywood properties being now resurrected through the voodoo of nostalgia, Die Hard could have had the perfect opportunity to reset the dial, connect the series back to its roots and give John McClane a send-off he was owed.  

Now, the idea for the sixth instalment in the Die Hard series date back all the way to when A Good Day to Die Hard was being made and some serious conversations were held about what at the time was referred to as Die Hardest. If I remember correctly and depending on where you look, the movie was supposed to be set in Japan and it was supposed to connect to the original. I can only imagine it would have something to do with the Nakatomi Corporation and maybe that another relative of Hans Gruber would make an appearance. Maybe his son? I don’t know. In the six years between the release of the fifth film and 2019 when Fox was acquired by The House of Mouse, the idea of another movie in the franchise was spun in at least a dozen of directions. Sequels, prequels, TV shows, crossovers with other properties… It was all on the table. Sam Jackson was courted at some point. And so was Mary Elizabeth Winstead. And it’s all gone now.  

Knowing that Willis has been struggling with a debilitating disease and that he’s recently become non-communicative perhaps adds an ominous texture to his desire – dating back to almost a decade ago – to retire the character of John McClane in one final movie. I don’t know if he knew something was going wrong, or maybe that he suspected he was slowly losing his faculties. It’s impossible to tell and I think it is incredibly hard to notice these early symptoms because they may be indistinguishable from just being forgetful or clumsy. But something tells me that Bruce Willis may have suspected he wouldn’t be in good enough shape for too long and that he was on borrowed time. In fact, his late-career movies –most of which were either critical or financial failures, or both – could testify to the assertion that Willis knew he wasn’t able to handle too much because of progressing cognitive limitations but he pressed on to support his family and to make sure they’d be taken care of once he’s no longer able to work. And as he was taking roles in all those direct-to-video travesties, all he was dreaming about – at least professionally – was to be given the opportunity to come back to the screen as John McClane for one last rodeo.  

And it wasn’t impossible! Between 2014 and now we have been living through a de facto nostalgia takeover and with enough good will and at least one solid idea for a movie set in the Die Hard universe, Bruce Willis could have had the chance to welcome us to the party once more. I don’t know if it would have made a lot of money, but at least from the point of view of the series itself, it would have been a good movie to make. Alas, it never happened.  

And it won’t. At this point, the best we can expect is a remake, which at least now I don’t even know how to contemplate because, as I mentioned above, the character of John McClane and the persona of Bruce Willis have become interlinked over the years. Casting another actor in this role would just feel inappropriate and I think at least a few decades would have to pass for it to become an option I’d welcome.  

For now, Die Hard is a series left in suspended animation, a franchise that shall never get a conclusion it needs, and not for lack of trying. So, at a time when Letterboxd sees an uptick in rewatches of the 1988 Die Hard and the blogosphere blooms once more with think pieces and listicles about why Die Hard is a Christmas movie or why it is not one, I think about this. I think about Bruce Willis biting his teeth for nearly a decade, hoping someone would put together a script good enough to retire on, and that they would do so before he’s too far gone to make it happen. I think about the fact that window has now closed, and that Bruce will likely never get the chance to do that.  

That’s what I think about.  

That despite the fact I never liked A Good Day to Die Hard that much, I will have to embrace it because Die Hardest won’t happen. Again, this isn’t a selfish act on my part. I truly believe Bruce Willis would have wanted to find closure for the character that came to define his entire working life and one he adopted as a part of his own personality. As much as it is probably inappropriate to say about anybody else, Willis and McClane are interconnected. And it saddens me to know that we may have missed so many opportunities to bid this man farewell in a way that would show him how much we cared about all he’s done for us movie fans.  

All I can say now is “Happy trails, John! Happy Trails, Bruce!”