Ten Die Hards

(If Die Hard established (or at least refined or repopularized) a certain action movie template—a single clearly delineated hero (or at least protagonist) begins from a position of relative peace (or at least nonkilling) but is hurled into violence by the actions of a group of outright villains—then these are my ten favorite examples of the form, in order of preference. It’s a reactionary genre, so this is a reactionary list, but I can’t deny that it pushes certain buttons for me.)

 

  1. Die Hard (directed byJohn McTiernan, 1988)

  2. Drive (directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, 2011)

  3. Léon: The Professional (directed by Luc Besson, 1994)

  4. John Wick (directed by Chad Stahelski, 2014)

  5. La Femme Nikita (directed by Luc Besson, 1990)

  6. Taken (directed by Pierre Morel, 2008)

  7. Hanna (directed by Joe Wright, 2011)

  8. The Transporter (directed by Corey Yuen and Louis Leterrier, 2002)

  9. The Bourne Identity (directed by Doug Liman, 2002)

  10. Brawl in Cell Block 99 (directed by S. Craig Zahler, 2017)

— August 28, 2021


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