The beloved action series spans five movies across 25 years. How to watch every Die Hard movie in order, from yippiekiyay to yippiekiz

The beloved action series spans five movies across 25 years.

How to watch every Die Hard movie in order, from yippie-ki-yay to yippie-ki-z

The beloved action series spans five movies across 25 years.

By Randall Colburn

Randall Colburn

Randall Colburn is a former editor at **. He left EW in 2023.

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Published on August 2, 2025 08:00AM EDT

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'Die Hard With a Vengeance'; 'Die Hard'; 'A Good Day to Die Hard'. Credit:

Barry Wetcher/Fox; 20th Century-Fox/Getty; Frank Masi/Fox

- The *Die Hard* franchise spans five movies that span 1988 to 2013.

- Bruce Willis leads the series as John McClane, a blue-collar New York City cop who often finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.

- With Willis having stepped back from acting in 2022 amid his aphasia diagnosis, it's highly unlikely there will be another *Die Hard* film.

In an era of action blockbusters defined by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis emerged as a different kind of action hero. After all, the then-rising star had cut his teeth on TV, and in the 1980s, it was much harder to leap to the big screen.

But with 1988's *Die Hard*, Willis made it happen. His reluctant hero, NYPD cop John McClane, thrilled and charmed audiences, turning John McTiernan's claustrophobic action romp into one of the year's highest-grossing films. Four sequels followed over the next 25 years, with the franchise grossing a whopping $1.4 billion worldwide.

"The thing about the first film you have to understand is I was doing TV," Willis told ** in 2007. "I'd only been in L.A. for a couple of years, I was still really learning how to act, so most of what went into making John McClane from a character standpoint was the South Jersey Bruce Willis — that attitude and disrespect for authority, that gallows sense of humor, the reluctant hero."

In 2022, Willis stepped back from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia, which has since evolved into frontotemporal dementia. That makes now as good a time as any to catch up on the actor's diverse body of work, and the *Die Hard* franchise is a good place to start. Read on for how to watch the *Die Hard* movies in order — and what to know about them heading in.

Die Hard (1988)

Bruce Willis swings outside Nakatomi Plaza in 'Die Hard'.

Peter Sorel/Fox

Would 1988's *Die Hard* have spawned an entire franchise if it starred Mel Gibson, Kurt Russell, or Burt Reynolds? We'll never know, since all of them turned it down. This led producers to offer a $5 million payday to Willis, who was a small-screen sensation due to his chemistry with Cybil Shepherd on *Moonlighting*.

And even Willis nearly passed on playing John McClane, as filming would have conflicted with the ABC series. "As it turns out, a miracle happened — Cybill Shepherd got pregnant and they shut down the show for 11 weeks — just the right amount of time for me to run around over at Nakatomi Tower," Willis explained to EW in 2007.**

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Adapted from Roderick Thorp's 1979 novel *Nothing Lasts Forever*, *Die Hard* tells the story of a rough-around-the-edges New York City cop who travels to Los Angeles to visit his estranged wife, Holly (Bonnie Bedelia), a high-powered executive with the Nakatomi Corporation. When a group of German radicals disrupts Nakatomi's Christmas party and takes the company's skyscraper by storm, McClane becomes a "fly in the ointment," sneaking around the building and taking them out one by one.

And while the streetwise, soft-hearted McClane was key to the film's success, kudos must also go to Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber, one of the greatest action movie villains in Hollywood history.

"Every line delivery is ideal. Every physical gesture is just right. Even his beard is sublime," EW's writer declared in 2022. "Viewed decades later, Rickman's performance remains admirable for — to borrow Gruber's line — 'The exactness, the attention to every conceivable detail.'"

Where to watch *Die Hard*: Amazon Prime Video**

Die Hard 2 (1990)

Bruce Willis sliding down the wing of a jet in 'Die Hard 2'.

20th Century-Fox/Getty

Next up in the *Die Hard* franchise is *Die Hard 2*, though it's often credited with the hilarious title *Die Hard 2: Die Harder. *

Directed by Renny Harlin, the sequel raked in more cash than its predecessor despite a lukewarm critical reception. McClane's Christmas is ruined yet again when a militia led by disgraced former army colonel William Stuart (William Sadler) holds D.C.'s Dulles International Airport hostage to intercept a corrupt foreign military leader being extradited to the U.S.

Bruce Willis as McClane and Bonnie Bedelia as Holly in 'Die Hard 2'.

20th Century-Fox/Getty

As in *Die Hard*, McClane goes rogue, single-handedly taking on baddies in airport backrooms, speeding snowmobiles, and on the wings of a moving jet.

Speaking with EW in 2007, Willis admitted that *Die Hard 2 *"suffered a little bit in the effort to get it out there quickly and capitalize on the success of the first one," but acknowledged that "it's really hard to compete with that first film."**

Where to watch *Die Hard 2*: Amazon Prime Video**

Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995)

Samuel L. Jackson as Zeus and Bruce Willis as McClane in 'Die Hard With a Vengeance'.

Barry Wetcher/Fox

Five years later, McClane returned in *Die Hard With a Vengeance*, the first *Die Hard* entry set on our hero's home turf of New York City.

Here, Willis reteamed with *Die Hard* director McTiernan and was paired with another rising star, Samuel L. Jackson, whom he'd recently starred alongside in Quentin Tarantino's *Pulp Fiction* (1994).

The threequel begins with an explosion at a department store. The perpetrator demands that McClane, who we greet hungover and even further estranged from Holly, do as he says, lest more explosions occur. Across one horrible, no good, very bad day, McClane crosses paths with shop owner Zeus Carver (Jackson), who's forced to join McClane for a gauntlet of mind-bending riddles and death-defying jaunts across the city.

"Bombers seem to be in vogue this year," Jackson cracked to EW back in 1995. "People could get a little tired of watching stuff blow up. But they never do, do they?"**

The puppetmaster, it turns out, is Simon Gruber, brother of Rickman's Hans. "The villain, Simon, is played with engaging smarm by a slumming Jeremy Irons, but he's a little too close to Alan Rickman's character in the original *Die Hard,"* EW noted upon the film's release. "He's his brother, in fact, and his motives — pure greed under a patina of revolutionary rhetoric — are identical."**

Where to watch *Die Hard With a Vengeance*: Amazon Prime Video**

Live Free or Die Hard (2007)

Bruce Willis as McClane and Justin Long as Matt in 'Live Free or Die Hard'.

Frank Masi/Twentieth Century Fox

It was another 12 years before John McClane returned to the screen. The internet proliferated, 9/11 happened, and, well, Willis got older. We *all* got older. And that's evident in 2007's *Live Free or Die Hard*, what with its cyber-terrorism plot and portrayal of McClane as a relic of another era.

"He's older. He bounces off the concrete with a little less zing. He's like a tennis ball that you've had for too long. But he's still got that same South Jersey attitude," Willis told EW ahead of the film's release. "I think the world of technology has kind of passed him by — that was what got me to say yes to this film, the story of an analog cop in a digital world. I thought that would be an interesting arena to put John McClane into and see what he can do with it."

Bruce Willis navigates traffic in 'Live Free or Die Hard'.

Frank Masi/20th Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock

Timothy Olyphant plays the villain, a former DoD analyst looking to cause a collapse of U.S. infrastructure. McClane gets roped into the threat when he's tasked with transporting white-hat computer whiz Matt Farrell (Justin Long), who Olyphant's baddie wants dead. But things get personal when McClane's daughter, Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), gets kidnapped.

While we'd be shocked if this were someone's favorite *Die Hard* movie, *Live Free or Die Hard* is nevertheless the most successful film in the franchise, having grossed over $388 million worldwide.

"At its best, *Live Free or Die Hard* is an enjoyable pop projection of post-9/11 anxiety," wrote EW's critic. "That said, it also makes you nostalgic for the days when irresponsible action movies didn't have to deal with it."**

Where to watch *Live Free or* *Die Hard*: Amazon Prime Video**

A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)

Bruce Willis as McClane and Jai Courtney as Jack in 'A Good Day to Die Hard'.

20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection

Action stars get older, but action heroes don't. Studios, then, are always desperate for a successor. With 2013's *A Good Day to Die Hard*, a potential post-Willis future for the franchise was proposed via McClane's son, Jack (Jai Courtney) — and roundly rejected.

*A Good Day to Die Hard* was a box office success, making more than $300 million on an estimated $92 million budget, but that's $88 million less than its predecessor. And the reviews were brutal. As of this writing, the film sits at a paltry 15% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Directed by John Moore (*Behind Enemy Lines*), *A Good Day to Die Hard* goes international by dropping McClane in Russia along with Jack, a CIA operative.

"The relationship isn't always functional," Courtney told EW ahead of the film's release. "These are two guys who have been estranged for some time. John likes to wing it, see what happens. Jack's more of a strategist."

And maybe that's why audiences didn't respond to Jack. Nine times out of 10, a reluctant hero with a blue collar, hangover, and chip on his shoulder is going to be more interesting than an agent of the government.**

Where to watch *A Good Day to Die Hard*: Amazon Prime Video**

The *Die Hard *movies in order by release date:

- *Die Hard *(1988)

- *Die Hard 2 *(1990)

- *Die Hard With a Vengeance *(1995)

- *Live Free or Die Hard *(2007)

- *A Good Day to Die Hard *(2013)

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