With the crushing disappointment of A Good day to Die Hard (2013) and the continuous underperforming financial numbers of 80’s action reboots and sequels, such as the recent Terminator:Dark Fate (2019) and Rambo Last Blood (2019), Can Die Hard 6 deliver exactly what us fans have come to expect?
The current result may be a mixed bag. Whilst this new film has heaps of potential, it also comes with risks in the current climate of action cinema.
To understand the degree of anticipation for this sequel, it’s important to discuss the context surrounding this beloved action franchise.
I believe the Die Hard franchise has been fairly consistent in terms of quality. This statement is only true when we ignore the horrendous A Good Day to Die Hard (2013).
With this in mind, Critics and audiences dislike Die Hard:With a Vengeance (1995) the most with a rotten tomatoes score of 59% but a favorable audience score of 83%.
As far as 80’s action sequels goes, we have seen much worse and this shows that this franchise has done remarkably well to survive for this long.
Audiences can obviously connect with the character of John Mcclane and he has been seen in the same iconography of John Rambo and The Terminator.
To further this point, despite the fifth installment being universally panned both by critics and audiences it was still the 3rd highest earner in the franchise.
For the weakened quality of that installment, this shows that there may still be an interest still left for the Die Hard franchise to perform well at the box office and that a sixth film doesn’t seem like a bad idea.
In some ways it does make sense to conclude the franchise more successfully, After the fifth film, fans want to see a more satisfactory end to such an iconic action franchise.
Len Wiseman is proposed to direct Die Hard 6. He also directed Live Free or Die Hard (2007) which for a fourth film in a franchise was pretty good.
With that film, he mixed up the formula and tried to bring us something different. John Mcclane goes into the world of techno terrorism and doesn’t know how to use any of the gadgets, he is later paired with Justin Long.
The film still holds a rating of 82% on rotten tomatoes. However, his last film in the action genre was Total Recall (2012) which was an unnecessary and bland remake of a classic.
He hasn’t directed a motion picture since 2012 and perhaps Die Hard 6 could be his perfect come back.
Speaking of comebacks, Bruce Willis is aching for a proper return to the action genre and Die Hard 6 would be the perfect opportunity.
Since A good day to Die Hard (2013), His two most notable roles were Glass (2019) and more relevantly Looper (2012), which although had a terrific concept, I believe the film is slightly overrated.
Other than these releases, Bruce Willis has done straight to DVD action films and a return to the role of John Mcclane could be a career comeback.
This sixth entry comes in an important time in Hollywood. Like I stated in the intro, 2 old action franchises have been rebooted in the last couple of years.
Terminator Dark Fate (2019), which I gave a favourable review has bombed at the box office. It is very unlikely that we will see a sequel.
Rambo Last Blood (2019) received terrible reviews from critics but was generally well liked from fans. Stallone has stated that he is open to doing more instalments, so a sixth film could be a possibility but unlikely.
However, the critical factor in these franchises is that most of these reboots and sequels have delivered unfavourable financial numbers at the box office. Perhaps the success doesn’t depend on the quality of these films but its whether audiences actually care about the next chapter and the main characters.
Hopefully the appeal of John Mcclane is a timeless one.
Releasing this sequel comes at an exciting time in action cinema, I would like to discuss the recent Tenet (2020), with that film Christopher Nolan gave audiences an innovative way of looking at action cinema. With this, the competition to have suspenseful action sequences has potentially increased in the genre.
Following on from this, Discussing the failure of A Good day to Die Hard (2013) is actually crucial. With a shocking rating of 14% on Rotten tomatoes.
Audiences understand what they expect to see in a Die Hard film which means that the producers can’t get away with producing a standard B action film.
As I mentioned earlier, action audiences love this character. He represents a sense of everydayness, humor and strength in almost every scenario you put him in. As long as the production crew understand this and write the character correctly then us fans can raise our hype.
The action set pieces have been both a pivotal and debated aspect to the appeal of this franchise. You have to go a little over the top to raise the stakes but not too much as you will take away the realism.
I think Live free or Die Hard (2007) broke the formula slightly. Most of the set pieces worked well in the framework of this franchise but there were a few scenes that leant more towards disbelief.
What we know so far is the film is set to be titled Mcclane and tells John Mcclane’s backstory and a potential Die Hard 6 release date will certainly be later than 2022.
There will be two actors to play the old and new Bruce Willis. We have seen this before with Joseph Gordon Levitt in Looper (2012) and he did a pretty good job but I will be very surprised if he were to reprise his role.
This plot has so much potential as it is changing the formula but actually filling in narrative gaps that the sequels did not cover which is his past.
The writing team behind the sixth entry come from a strange background, one that primarily exist in the horror genre.
The writers Chad Hayes & Carey W. Hayes have helmed The Conjuring films and it seems an odd choice for them to write the next Die Hard film. Although, Chad Hayes did actually star as a mercenary in Lethal Weapon (1987), so he has had some sort of background in the action genre.
It has recently been stated, that Disney may develop a streaming series of John Mcclane. To me, there is still an appeal for this character and developing a TV series may make audiences feel bored of this storyline.
Whilst the ideas are fresh, they should make one installment that concludes his legacy.
Judging by the financial numbers and the production crew behind this installment. The success of this sequel depends on casting and whether or not audiences still care about this character.
Due to the unsatisfactory A Good day to Die Hard (2013) it is still unclear if audiences want to see an end to this character.
In an ideal world of fandom, I would like to see John Mctiernan return and direct the final outing. What is for certain is that this character deserves a good finale.
Roll on Die Hard 6!
