Die Hard 4.0, Personality and the Evolution of the Tough Guy

Die Hard 4.0

In the summer of 1988 I stepped out of a dark movie theater only to come face to face with a cardboard cutout of Bruce Willis in his undershirt. I stepped back and realized they were advertising an action film with that clown from Moonlighting. It seemed like a preposterous idea at the time. After all, we all know an action hero has to be either a mumbling Italian guy with a gun or a big muscular robot with a funny accent. Almost 20 years have gone by and I can’t think of a better action hero than Willis. He may lack the muscles or the hair, but he’s got one thing most of the other guys can only dream of – Personality.

Rocky

With the exception of the Rocky series, Stallone never bothered with emotion. Arnie tried his best to be likeable, but it always felt like a stretch. The nineties were even worse. Steven Seagal had the grace of a child molester while Van Damme’s biggest effort was shaving for one of his movie roles. Better actors have graced the movie screens in an attempt to make action heroes more credible. Tom Cruise was always too over the top and Matt Damon as Jason Bourne is as wooden as an Ikea sale. I guess you can always trace it back to the blueprint designed by Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson…Is there an unwritten rule that if you’re going to blow things up you must be an android (or Keanu Reeves, for that matter)?

Beverly Hills Cop

That pretty much leaves us with three great movie characters. Axel Foley, Martin Riggs and John McClane. Truth be told, Lethal Weapon came first. While Eddie Murphy had all the jokes, Lethal Weapon was ready to present us with an extremely flawed character. A serious guy who has lost his wife and is ready to kill himself. As good as it was, it seems that the producers (and my 12 year old self) weren’t too happy with all that depth, and by the time the sequels came rolling in, the Lethal Weapon franchise turned into The Three Stooges with a really violent ending.

Lethal Weapon

In the coming year, many of our old favorites are stepping out of retirement. Stallone has already rehashed Rocky and is readying Rambo 4. Harrison Ford is dieting as we speak to bring us Indie back (another exception to the rule) and everyone is waiting for Schwarzenegger to quit politics and start shredding our enemies again (A sequel to Commando is long overdue).
Die Hard 4.0 is well aware of the present. McClane spends half the movie sparring with his young sidekick about the virtues of Creedence Clearwater Revival or the fact that kids don’t visit the “Gymnasium” anymore. This time around he’s completely out of his element. The bad guys are intelligent hackers who are destroying systems he wasn’t even aware existed. Even an overweight balding Kevin Smith gets to ridicule McClane’s age.

Die Hard

The action is utterly unbelievable but immensely enjoyable. The plot can have the Digg community arguing for months (you can always count on a hacker to access any system from a PDA, right?), but Willis’s personality perseveres. For every time McClane sarcastically bitches to himself, you get a monologue about the hardships of being a hero. In the end of the day, you really believe this guy would launch a flaming car into a helicopter or outrace an F16 with a truck just so he can save his daughter.
Until Action Jackson 2 hits the theaters (and it never will), I’d bet my money on the Die Hard franchise. Maybe for number 5 McClane can take on Jack Bauer…I’d pay to see that.

The Evolution of the Tough Guy
(Courtesy of D Thompson)

1930’s - Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney
1940’s - Humphrey Bogart, Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, Alan Ladd, John Wayne
1950’s - Charlton Heston, Sterling Hayden, Glenn Ford, Robert Mitchum, Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas
1960’s - James Coburn, Lee Marvin, Steve McQueen, Lee Van Cleef, Sean Connery
1970’s - Burt Reynolds, Charles Bronson, Clint Eastwood, Bruce Lee
1980’s - Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Harrison Ford, Kurt Russell, Jackie Chan, Dolph Lundgren, Carl Weathers, Chuck Norris
1990’s - Jet Li, Wesley Snipes, Keanu Reeves, Steven Seagal, Jean-Claude Van Damme
2000’s - The Rock, Jason Statham, Vin Diesel

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Posted on July 10, 2007

Comments

22 Responses to “Die Hard 4.0, Personality and the Evolution of the Tough Guy”

Nicole on July 10th, 2007 2:00 am

Great post!!

Rustycat on July 10th, 2007 3:59 am

Best movie I’ve seen in ages.

Bruce Willis delivers. But don’t expect any sophisticated plots or complications. They piss him off, he delivers.

Kendall on July 10th, 2007 9:48 am

Don’t forget about Toby McGuire in Spider Man!

Charbarred on July 10th, 2007 9:58 am

I’d put the comic book actors in a different category…otherwise Michael Keaton will have to go into this list as well

Tim on July 10th, 2007 10:18 am

Very well put I’d say.

DThompson on July 10th, 2007 12:33 pm

Lots of actors, espec. today, make action films; Nicholas Cage springs immediately to mind. When making my list I tried to stick with actors who were primarily known for their tough guy or action roles. So, sorry Toby, you’re out, ditto Russel Crowe, Paul Newman, and Hugh Jackman all mostly seen as straight actors, not action stars. And, before anyone complains, just because an actor is associated with a decade that does not mean they ONLY were a star in that decade. I tried to place the star in their primary decade, the zenith of their tough guy / action star career.

DThompson on July 10th, 2007 12:45 pm

Oh, and in defense of my favorite action dude, Charles Bronson, I think he and Eastwood, and Stallone too for that matter came to their mute tough guy approach quite honestly. All three have given interviews where they expressed the basic idea that the more their character talked the less mystery there was and thus the less interesting they were. Let’s face it, nobody’s going to accept a tough guy who won’t shut his stupid yap. Even Willis isn’t exactly a chatter box.

HMTKSteve on July 10th, 2007 1:00 pm

Michael Keaton was the best Batman ever.

jeremy on July 10th, 2007 3:52 pm

That was an enjoyable article. I definitely agree that Bruce Willis has lots of personality which is why I enjoyed die hard 4 so much. I didn’t expect to, but when the movie started and his wisecracks came at me it was like a porthole to my childhood. I instantly wanted to rent all the old die hard and lethal weapon movies I could find, kicking stuff and jumping through windows all the way to blockbuster.

aneillo on July 10th, 2007 11:40 pm

Jack “bower” is spelled Bauer. Not that it matters since this last season sucked balls, and this movie was amazing

Damoon Rashidi on July 11th, 2007 8:27 am

I’m sorry, but I didn’t see Chuck Norris on the list anywhere? He is like action personified.

Charbarred on July 11th, 2007 8:32 am

Whoaaa! Major oversight Damoon…I’ll correct it before Chuck Norris kicks my ass. Thanks

Kendall on July 11th, 2007 9:42 am

Christian Bale, or however you spell his name, is better than Michael Keaton. I’d put Michael Keaton at the #2 spot for Batmans. Not that I need to be arguing batman when Mr. Thompson’s article has little to do with it.

Kendall on July 11th, 2007 9:43 am

Sorry….Charbarred’s article. I”m too scatterbrained today.

Charbarred on July 11th, 2007 10:15 am

I’ll let the D Thompson thing slip (after all he did write the evolution of the tough guy, even if he did leave Chuck Norris out which might result in our imminent deaths), but I still think Michael Keaton was the best. Bale was awesome, but just a tad too serious for my taste.

Kendall on July 11th, 2007 10:27 am

Batman is serious! At least he is supposed to be.

2chase3 on July 11th, 2007 11:39 am

I expect great things from Daniel Craig (James Bond), Kevin Mckidd (HBO Rome series) Ian Mcshane (the aging tough guy) Never bought into the the Die hard series the first one was good but hell how bad could a guys luck be so the rest were considered gimmicks like Speed 2 lol. Its funny never even seen Kevin Costner mentioned in this article or Mels “William Wallis” role in Brave Heart, Now thats a hero! and has everyone forgot about the Duke?

DThompson on July 11th, 2007 2:34 pm

Ai ya! Can’t believe I left Norris off the list and after I saw a movie of his in the theater where he karate jumped through the windshield of a moving car! Many apologies! The eighties were just so stuffed with action hero guys he got lost in the mix!

DThompson on July 11th, 2007 2:37 pm

2chase3! John Wayne is on the list! And Mel was really on the edge for me, action hero or actor? Action hero or comedian? In the enbd just asking the question made me decide against including him though if someone else made a list with him on it I wouldn’t object.

Ipodwheels @ Auto Parts for Brains on July 12th, 2007 1:11 am

Hey how about Mr. T? Nah, I am kidding. Nice article D. I think that action heroes have really evolved through the years. From the muscled stereotypes of the eighties, today’s action heroes are made more human, and less invincible. Kinda makes them tougher if you ask me.

I have to see the movie to make further comments, but this post just gave me the right push.