It’s the most wonderful time of the year. The time when people resurrect one of the more tiresome debates to take up space on the internet: Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? Yes, is the answer. Now that that’s settled, it’s the perfect time to take a look at all the action films that Die Hard inspired. So consequential was the John McTiernan-Bruce Willis blockbuster that it completely reconfigured the action genre. Its success led to more than a decade’s worth of action movies that followed its formula of a lonely action hero facing off against a squad of villains, often led by a sophisticated Hans Gruber-type, in a singular location.
While what actually qualifies as a Die Hard can, of course, be a bit subjective, depending on how rigid or loose you are with the elements considered necessary to qualify. For this list, any action movie that was either pitched or subsequently referred to as “Die Hard on a [Blank]” fits the bill, which opens the category up for a lot of very entertaining action movies. Some Die Hard clones were good, some were very bad, but these eleven are the greatest.
10
‘Die Hard’ on a House (with Santa): ‘Violent Night’ (2022)
One of the most recent riffs on the Die Hard formula also circumvented any possible debate about whether it could be considered a Christmas movie. Violent Night is Die Hard in a house, but this John McClane just so happens to be jolly old Saint Nick. Santa Claus here is played by David Harbour, who makes for a suitably more grizzled Kris Kringle and whose backstory is tweaked to that of an immortal Viking warrior.
His battle skills are put to the test when the next house on his list turns into a hostage situation, and he needs to save the nice family from some naughty home invaders. It’s a premise so ready-made to be an action-packed crowdpleaser that it’s surprising that it took so long for someone to take advantage of it. Tommy Wirkola, director of the Nazi zombie favorite Dead Snow, pumps plenty of blood into his Xmas actioner. Even if it doesn’t all hang together narratively and John Leguizamo’s villain is a little lacking in personality, it’s still a nice bit of holiday counter programming to fill your stocking with.
9
‘Die Hard’ on the White House: ‘White House Down’ & ‘Olympus Has Fallen’ (2013)
It’s two presents for the price of one since both of these Die Hard in the White House movies share a lot of similarities, and were released in the same year. They still have enough of their own identities to differentiate them, though, and make for a solid Die Hard clone double feature. White House Down stars Channing Tatum as a Secret Service reject who gets his time to shine when the White House is raided while his daughter is on a tour. Olympus Has Fallen has B-movie stalwart Gerard Butler as a Secret Service wash-out who gets called back into action when North Korean terrorists stage an attack on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Both movies are competent enough at their action, coming from Roland Emmerich and Antoine Fuqua, respectively. White House Down has a lighter, more comedic touch and follows the Die Hard formula a little closer, while Olympus Has Fallen has a harder edge thanks to its R rating and Butler’s general grittiness as an action hero. Either one is a fun bit of bipartisan escapism that offers something for anyone’s particular tastes.
8
‘Die Hard’ on a Plane: ‘Air Force One’ (1997)
The best presidential Die Hard clone is the one where the commander in chief himself takes on the McClane role, with Harrison Ford‘s brawny leader of the free world facing off against Gary Oldman’s Russian terrorist in the titular plane. Directed by Wolfgang Petersen, who’d had success with another silver fox action hero in a political action thriller a few years earlier with In the Line of Fire, Air Force One is the kind of nonpolitical escapism that could be had in the ’90s without starting a culture war.
Ford and Oldman could play these roles in their sleep, which doesn’t mean they aren’t engaged in the movie. In fact, they both seem to relish their respective roles and have a ton of fun verbally sparring with each other before getting into the fisticuffs. Air Force One is perfect popcorn fare that is ever so slightly let down in its third act by some truly atrocious late ’90s CGI that is so distracting it threatens to bring down the whole movie. Even so, the plane stays right thanks to Ford and Oldman, who are about the best you could ask for in an action hero-villain combo.
7
‘Die Hard’ on a Battleship: ‘Under Siege’ (1992)
This Die Hard on a battleship riff was directed by Andrew Davis, who also previously helmed the underrated Christmastime political thriller The Package and would make the Ford-starring action masterpiece The Fugitive one year later. His prowess with crafting action sequences is on full display here as well, and the movie has a pair of colorfully unhinged villain performances from Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey. It would possibly rank higher if it weren’t for its hero, played by charisma black hole Steven Seagal.
While this film was made early enough in Seagal’s career that he was still physically engaged in the action, his whispering style of intimidation still leaves a lot to be desired. Bruce Willis had charm to spare as John McClane, enough that even when he was being a smartass loudmouth, you couldn’t help but root for him. Seagal, on the other hand, has all the personality of a martial arts training dummy. Even with a lackluster lead, Under Siege has enough well-executed action to make it worthwhile.
6
‘Die Hard’ on a Hockey Arena?!: ‘Sudden Death’ (1995)
Like Seagal, Jean-Claude Van Damme was always a rung below his action star contemporaries, never fully ascending to the same level of stardom as Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, or Sylvester Stallone. The Muscles from Brussels did manage to have his own style of star persona, though, and carved out his own action niche of solid B-movies. Sudden Death was his shot at Die Hard, set in a hockey arena, and is among his best films.
Helmed by the steady hand of Peter Hyams, who also directed Van Damme in the cult favorite Timecop, the movie features the action star as a fire marshal up against a team of terrorists during a hockey game. The Gruber here is played by Powers Boothe, who has all the menace, if not the charm, of his Die Hard counterpart. It’s a completely unpretentious action movie, with solid fight sequences, including a particularly memorable one where Van Damme faces off against a goon dressed as the Pittsburgh Pirates mascot.
5
‘Die Hard’ on a Mountain: ‘Cliffhanger’ (1993)
Willis’ compatriot Stallone, who opened the Planet Hollywood franchise with the star and Schwarzenegger, got his own Die Hard clone in 1993, this one set on a mountain. In true Stallone fashion, everything about this movie is more blown out, from the setting to the stunts to the acting. John Lithgow makes for a particularly psychotic villain, who stages a spectacular midair plane heist that scatters suitcases of money across a mountain range.
Cliffhanger is also the only Die Hard clone to actually be directed by someone who also helmed one of that franchise’s installments. Renny Harlin had made Die Hard 2 prior to this film, and while that sequel may be the least of the original Die Hard trilogy, the Finnish director clearly learned a few lessons from it, which he applied to this action extravaganza. Cliffhanger has since earned its own solid fan base, enough that it will soon be getting a reboot next year.
4
‘Die Hard’ on a Prison: ‘The Rock’ (1996)
The Rock is, surprisingly, not the only Die Hard on Alcatraz movie, but when your options for leading duos are between Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage in this or Steven Seagal and Ja Rule in Half Past Dead, it’s pretty clear which movie is going to come out on top. Add in Ed Harris as a hardened military vet villain, and the choice is even clearer. Harris and his team of rogue soldiers take a group of tourists hostage at the former prison, threatening to unleash a chemical weapon if their demands aren’t met. This forces the U.S. government to turn to an awkward chemist and a former SAS member and Alcatraz prisoner to infiltrate the island.
The Rock is Michael Bay’s best film, where his propensity for bombastic action and broad characters is actually a feature of it instead of a detraction. Connery has a career’s worth of action heroism and gravitas to inform his characters, while Cage brings his nerviness for one of the most idiosyncratic action movie leads of the ’90s. It’s actually odd to consider this the film that set Cage on a path to more action movies, including Face/Off and the Die Hard adjacent Con Air, when the entire appeal of his character here is how ill-suited he is for the role. It’s actually one of the elements that The Rock does better than most Die Hard clones, and even some of the sequels, in having a hero who is far from indestructible and is way out of his depth.
3
‘Die Hard’ in a Building: ‘Dredd’ (2012)
When Dredd was first released, most audiences and critics compared it more to the previous year’s The Raid. That Indonesian action masterpiece definitely shares a little DNA with Die Hard, but it also feels like its own thing, whereas this Karl Urban sci-fi actioner adaptation is more in line with Willis’ masterpiece. Urban plays the iconic comic book character Judge Dredd, a dystopic law enforcement officer in Mega City One, who finds himself in a McClane situation when he and his rookie trainee get locked in a massive apartment complex lorded over by Lean Headey‘s Ma-Ma.
Dredd is filled to the brim with bloody, stylish action, personified best in its super slo-mo sequences where bullets shred through bodies in a strangely hypnotic fashion. The police-state satire is far more muted than it is in the source material, so the movie is more successful as a straight-ahead ultraviolent action movie, albeit one that is just damned entertaining. Urban makes for a terrific cinematic Dredd, while Headey is a suitably ruthless villain that you love to hate.
2
‘Die Hard’ on a Plane (again!): ‘Executive Decision’ (1996)
The most underrated of the Die Hard clones, Executive Decision was the directorial debut of editor Stuart Baird, who had previously worked on action movies like Lethal Weapon as well as Die Hard 2. His editing experience serves him well in keeping the pacing taut in this clever action thriller that follows a team of specialists sent on board an airliner that’s been hijacked by terrorists. The best trick up the movie’s sleeve is the bait-and-switch it pulls by having Steven Seagal positioned as the capable action hero before unceremoniously killing him off early in the film, leaving Kurt Russell‘s analyst to lead the charge.
Russell’s career was always a little disconnected from his action hero competitors. He would occasionally dip a toe into the genre for films like this or Tango & Cash, but he was never labeled as an action guy. That ultimately served his career better, as he was able to play a broader spectrum of leading men, from the gravel-voiced Snake Plissken to the blustery Jack Burton. Here, Russell gets to be a desk jockey thrown into action more akin to Jack Ryan in The Hunt for Red October, and half the fun of Executive Decision is watching him have to think his way out of difficult situations. Add in a killer supporting cast of character actors, and you’ve got one hell of a Die Hard on a plane.
1
‘Die Hard’ on a Bus: ‘Speed’ (1994)
Coming from yet another Die Hard franchise alumnus, Speed was the directorial debut of Jan de Bont, who served as director of photography on the first film and was recommended for this movie by John McTiernan, who turned it down because he felt it was too similar to Die Hard. The script was actually more inspired by movies like Runaway Train, and while some people don’t count it as a true Die Hard clone based on how different its structure is, it has been openly referred to as Die Hard on a bus since its release and has some clear influences from it.
Following Keanu Reeves as a SWAT bomb disposal expert, the movie starts with a stellar elevator sequence orchestrated by Dennis Hopper‘s madman bomber. That leads into the main conflict of the movie, where Hopper plants a bomb on a bus that is set to explode if the bus drops below 50 MPH, causing Reeves to get himself on board so he can hopefully steer its passengers to safety. The movie definitely mirrors Die Hard in its expansive cast of supporting characters, with Jeff Daniels and Sandra Bullock the big standouts as Reeves’ partner and love interest, respectively, but where it most directly shows its connective tissue is in the interactions between the hero and villain. Hopper communicates with Reeves throughout the movie, and their antagonistic banter is clearly indebted to the verbal sparring between Willis and Alan Rickman, and is a major part of what makes Speed the very best of the Die Hard clones.
