Even before Bruce Willis took on his most iconic role as the New York City hero cop John McClane, theDie Hardscenario wasn’t rare. Yet, after John McTiernan made his ‘88 film, it became the genre definition. Every movie with a similar scenario has ever since started being nicknamed"Die Hard in an…The emotionally rich character writing, the unique action sequences, the calculated pacing, andAlan Rickman as the unforgettable villain Hans Gruber– there’s no dearth of reasons whyDie Hardhas become so iconic.
Most recently,the movieCleaner(2025) starring Daisy Ridleyrepeated theDie Hardformula with fun results. Located on a relatively small site with limited options for set pieces, following a heroic man working alone or often with another partner, and involving a one-by-one villain encounter pattern, probably even set during a holiday – these are some of the few requirements for a movie to qualify as “Die Hardon a blank”. WhileJason Statham hasn’t been in aDie Hardripoff, most prominent action stars have at least one such movie in their repertoire.
Die Hardin a hockey arena
Sudden Death
Following a brain injury, a woman suspects her husband is an impostor and struggles with unsettling visions and calls from someone claiming to be her real spouse, pushing her to question her sanity.
What makesDie Hard’s hero John McClane so endearing is the delicate balance Bruce Willis maintains between his character’s physicality and emotionality. When the Muscles from Brussels teamed up with director Peter Hyams, one ofJean-Claude Van Damme’s most underrated movieswas born.Sudden Deathfollows Van Damme’s character, who’s as much of a macho man as he’s emotionally sensitive, in a tight race-against-time thriller set in a hockey arena in Pittsburgh.
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Haunted by an incident from his past, the firefighter is set on a path of intense action when his daughter is kidnapped.Hehas to figure out a way to stop the kidnapper from blowing up the arenaand foil his plan. It’s a clear ripoff of theDie Hardformula, but it’s exciting enough to warrant viewing, including a fun fight with the Penguins’ mascot. With Van Damme’s kickboxing stunts, it’s an absurdly over-the-top entertaining action movie.
Die Hard on a mountain
Cliffhanger
Cliffhanger, directed by Renny Harlin, follows former ranger Gabe Walker as he confronts his past on a treacherous peak. Initially returning to aid stranded climbers, Walker discovers they are hijackers searching for lost money, complicating an already perilous rescue mission.
A part of theDie Hardformula is the restricted space available for the hero’s various confrontations. Sylvester Stallone’sCliffhangeris an exception to this rule despite being aDie Hard-like movie. It’s set in the sprawling icy lands of the Rocky Mountains. Stallone plays a rescue ranger, who’s joined by his partner on a rescue mission after a plane crashes in the mountains. Captured by the people they’re supposed to rescue, who are hijackers,the heroes must retrieve the loot in time before the hijackers, while still cooperating.
ACliffhangersequel has been in development since 1994, but 30 years later, through a journey of legal and logistical roadblocks, the movie was officially changed into a reboot and went into production in 2024.
An iconic characteristic of aDie Hardmovie is an action hero who has a heavy emotional conundrum on his mind, like John McClane with his struggling marriage. Stallone’s character is haunted by the memory of a friend who fell to his death during a climbing expedition and this informs the choices he makes throughout the film. WhileDie Hard2 is adisappointing second movie the franchise bounced back after, its director helmedCliffhangertoo, and it’s significantly better, even as a spiritual successor toDie Hard.
Die Hard on a battleship
Under Siege
Under Siege is an action-thriller film starring Steven Seagal as Casey Ryback, a former Navy SEAL and cook on the USS Missouri, who must stop a group of terrorists led by William Strannix, played by Tommy Lee Jones, who have taken control of the ship.
Steven Seagal’s career had been moving in a hopeful direction for him ever since his debut as a cop in the 1988 thrillerAbove the Law, but it washis version ofDie Hardthat put him on the map as a bonafide action star. He plays a Navy SEAL who’s been demoted to battleship cook after punching a superior officer. When an ex-CIA operative, played by Tommy Lee Jones, takes over the ship, intent on using the nuclear warheads on board for blackmail, the cook takes on the responsibility of rescuing the hostages and dealing with the criminals.
One year before he directedThe Fugitive, which featuresHarrison Ford in one of his best non-franchise movies, Andrew Davis directedUnder Siege.While the average Steven Seagal movie is characterized by a collection of formulaic tropes that he repeated in all his movies,Under Siegeis an exception, and is arguably his most entertaining movie. Instead of the Zen master he plays in most of his movies, Seagal is a jaded hero in this movie, and the contrast proves how much range he has.
Die Hard in Alcatraz
The Rock
The Rock is a 1996 action film from director Michael Bay. The story revolves around a chemist named Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage) and John Mason (Sean Connery), an ex-con who escaped from Alcatraz, who are tasked to lead a counterstrike to protect San Francisco from a lethal nerve gas attack.
Over three decades after he played James Bond, Sean Connery played a British agent imprisoned in Alcatraz in Michael Bay’s sophomore directorial feature. WhileBad Boys(1995) is a fan-favorite action movie,The Rockput Michael Bay on the map as the new director of compelling action cinema in Hollywood. Joining two of the most iconic action heroes,John McClane fromDie Hard, whose archetype is played by Nicolas Cage, and James Bond, played by the man who originated the role, it’s one of the most rewatchable movies of all time.
The imposing setting of Alcatraz provides the perfect backdrop for theDie Hard-like narrative.
When a disillusioned Army General leads men to take over the island and hold the US Government to ransom, the escaped prisoner and a young FBI chemical weapons expert, played by Cage, must team up. The imposing setting of Alcatraz provides the perfect backdrop for theDie Hard-like narrative. With a location that resembles a maze and a group of heroes that have to take down the enemy one man after the other, it’s a blatant copy, but a great one.
Die Hard on a prisoner airplane
Con Air
Con-Air is a 1990s action crime-thriller starring Nicholas Cage as former U.S. Ranger turned to convict Cameron Poe. Poe, in an act of self-defense and passion, is court-martialed for accidentally killing the man he protected his wife from. Having served his time and achieving Parole, Poe is on his way home with one problem - the transport plane he’s on has been hijacked by several dangerous convicts, led by one of the worst in the United States.
Nicolas Cage plays one ofthe most unintentionally funny movie charactersin his version ofDie Hard. He plays a convicted US Army Ranger who decides to do the right thing and take care of the situation when the prisoners who are being transferred on a plane decide to take control of the flight. Cage’s character has served his sentence and is on his way back home when other convicts on the flight hijack it, led by a criminal mastermind.
Characterized by his traditional over-the-top antics and his unique brand of action, Cage’s on-screen persona is an entertaining presence. He goes around taking down criminals one by one, and with the claustrophobic setting of the airplane, it is one of the most entertainingDie Hardripoffs.Con Airisthe quintessential ’90s movie that everyone loves, even those who don’t like it, because of the elaborate action sequences and the exciting ticking-clock plot.
Die Hard in the White House
Olympus Has Fallen
Olympus Has Fallen an action thriller film and is the first in the franchise. The film follows former army ranger/special service agent Mike Banning who lost his position after the death of the President’s wife. When a North Korean terrorist group attacks the White House, Banning must tune back into his old skill set to save the president and the country from nuclear devastation.
Antoine Fuqua, director ofTraining Day, the movie that earned Denzel Washington his only Oscar for Best Actor, took theDie Hardformula to the White House. Action star Gerard Butler plays a Secret Service agent who carries the guilt of the First Lady of America dying under his watch and has taken to a desk job ever since. However, when terrorists take the president hostage after laying siege to the White House, he jumps back into action.
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This is one of the most obviousDie Hardripoffs that fails to reach the heights of glory of the Bruce Willis movie. The tonal inconsistency between the exorbitantly violent war movie-like opening sequence and the one-man commando action set pieces featuring Butler can feel jarring at times. However,for fans ofDie Hard, this is a must-watch movie to see how it has influenced thriller filmmaking in the years since its release.
Directed by Welsh filmmaker Gareth Evans, the Indonesian action thrillerThe Raidsuccessfully recreates theDie Hardformula in a skyscraper in Jakarta.It’s perhaps the best iteration of the formula, or rather, the smartest one, as it subverts the genre conventions somewhat, by introducing a villain that knows the hero personally. Unlike Hans Gruber, who didn’t know John McClane, this villain turns vengeful when he realizes who is leading the SWAT team against him.
The narrative of the SWAT team trapped in a claustrophobic building where they’re being hunted by murderous henchmen makesThe Raidone of the most intense action thrillers in recent years. The hero is still like John McClane and hasthe superior ability to pick off henchmen one by one. The skyscraper also serves as the perfect location by likening it to a video game where the character moves up levels as he takes down the henchmen on his way to confront the dangerous mob boss.
Die Hard on the President’s aircraft
Air Force One
In the 1997 action thriller Air Force One, President James Marshall (Harrison Ford) is forced to defend his plane from Russian hijackers while trying to save his family and administration. It is directed by Wolfgang Petersen, with Gary Oldman playing terrorist Egor Korshunov and Glenn Close appearing as Vice President Kathryn Bennett.
Long after he had co-led the rebels to victory against the Empire in a galaxy far, far away, Harrison Ford took on the role of the fictional president in his ownDie Hardmovie. When his aircraft is hijacked by a terrorist, played by an unrecognizable Gary Oldman,the President takes on the role of the action heroto get rid of the terrorists led by him.
The president has limited space and resources to deal with the dangerous hijackers and goes about his job with clinical precision.
Unlike many other films that createdDie Hardon an airplane, fromCon AirtoSnakes On a Plane,Air Force Oneis somber and intense with barely any hint of irony or comedy. It comes closest to mirroringDie Hardin this aspect, and also in the spatial setting of the Bruce Willis movie. Much like John McClane inDie Hard, the president has limited space and resources to deal with the dangerous hijackers and goes about his job with clinical precision. President James Marshall is one of the mosticonic Harrison Ford rolesto this day.
Die Hard on a bus
Speed
In Jan de Bont’s 1994 action thriller Speed, LAPD officer Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) works alongside passenger Annie (Sandra Bullock) to safely stop a bus that will explode if it goes below 50 mph.
Of the many action heroes who have ruled the industry, despite him being most famous as ruthless killerJohn Wicktoday, Keanu Reeves seems like the least likely candidate to recreateDie Hard. He doesn’t embody the gruff style of action heroes from the ’80s that Willis' movie tries to reinvent but doesn’t go far beyond just acknowledging emotional vulnerability. It is no surprise that the man who played John Wick, one of thecharacters who helped reshape genre expectations, plays a different kind of action hero in his version ofDie Hard.
Keanu Reeves pushed back against Hollywood executives to ensure his character didn’t become the typically hypermasculine action hero and consulted real SWAT agents to understand the approach they’d take when dealing with such a situation.
Speedfollows a SWAT agent who is trapped on a bus that must move at a particularly high speed to not trigger the bomb that has been planted by an extortionist. The agent, played by Keanu Reeves, isa soft-spoken and kind man who spendsequal time trying to figure out how to disable the bomb and reassuring the passengers. This refreshing change in demeanor makes him an endearing hero to follow. While it’s not traditionally aDie Hardmovie because the setting is in motion, the intense pace of the thriller and the hero’s emotionality make parallels inevitable.
Die Hard for kids
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is a holiday comedy film directed by Chris Columbus and written by John Hughes. Preparing for another family trip, the McCallister family heads to Florida - but in the enormous family holiday hustle, young Kevin is separated from his family and redirected to New York City alone. Set loose on the town, Kevin looks to have the time of his life - but his former enemies have escaped prison and made their way to the Big Apple.
While the firstHome Aloneis one of the best Christmas movies much likeDie Hard, the sequel feels even more like aDie Hardmovie due to the main character’s unfamiliarity with the terrain. A lighthearted comedy that follows a kid played by Macaulay Culkin,the breakout role he is most known for, it tells the story of how the kid, stranded in New York, traps and deals with the thieves from the first movie in this city he’s new to.
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The single location, the setting of traps to deal with the villains, the sense of justice to protect others, and the use of wits to outsmart enemies who outnumber the protagonist –Home Alone2has all the makings of aDie Hardmovie. Through a lens of comedy and child-friendliness, it recreates the successful formula for a younger age group who can experience the same thrills in an equally iconic form, without having to deal with the gore and grittiness of Willis' film.
