Here's How You Can Watch Every Movie In The Die Hard Series
The Die Hard movies are quintessential American action, and are simply required viewing for anybody who is a fan of the genre. The 1987 original ushered in a whole new era for action; it made a bonafide movie and action star out of Bruce Willis (who had previously been most well-known as the star of the TV series Moonlighting), and in doing so, proved conventional Hollywood wisdom wrong in multiple ways. The movie's smashing success illustrated that television stars could indeed cross over to the big screen in a big way, and that you didn't have to be a muscle-bound hulk in the vein of Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone to carry a big-budget actioner on your comparatively slight shoulders.
The flick also broke the action mold in other important ways. Willis' NYPD cop John McClane, though resourceful and capable, was also vulnerable (and often terrified) in a way that most action stars of the eighties simply were not. Its ensemble cast of accomplished actors, including Bonnie Bedelia, Robert Davi, and the late, great Alan Rickman in his first major role, lent depth and humanity to the slam-bang proceedings. And, lest we forget, Die Hard has not only gained a well-deserved reputation over the years as one of the greatest action films of all time, but also as one of the greatest Christmas movies.
The flick was followed by four sequels between 1990 and 2013, all of which also starred Willis, and all of which are mostly great — although the latter two belated entries are arguably much more conventional action movies, turning McClane into less of an everyman and more of a superhero. Every one of the movies have their merits, though — and if you'd like to arrange a little Die Hard film festival for yourself, we're here to tell you how to do that.
HBO Max has the first three Die Hard movies
You can start off your Die Hard-fest with that classic original flick and its first two sequels, 1990's Die Hard 2 and 1995's Die Hard With a Vengeance, on HBO Max. While the first film featured terrorists (well, thieves basically pretending to be terrorists) crashing an office party being held on one of the top floors of a skyscraper on Christmas Eve, the second installment moves the action to Dulles International Airport two Christmas Eves later, where McClane is awaiting the arrival of his wife Holly (Bedelia) from California. Of course, McClane can't just have a normal Christmas with family, presents, and turkey; a band of terrorists, in cahoots with a corrupt Army Special Forces unit, hack into the airport's air traffic control system and begin holding circling planes hostage, demanding the release of the drug-running former dictator of the fictional country of Val Verde. Unfortunately for these goons, they failed to check the passenger manifests for anyone having anything to do with John McClane.
In the third entry in the series, a terrorist calling himself "Simon" gets the attention of the NYPD by blowing up a department store during the morning rush hour. His odd demand: for none other than McClane, who has been suspended from the force, to fulfill a bizarre series of demands beginning with a stunt involving the hapless, hung-over cop parading himself about downtown Harlem wearing a sign with an unprintable message. Harlem shop owner Zeus Carver (Samuel L. Jackson, fresh off his star-making turn in Pulp Fiction) saves McClane's hide, then gets sucked into the shenanigans as it becomes clear that Simon is no ordinary terrorist — he's one with a very personal vendetta against McClane, and he's enacted a plan to get his hands on millions worth of gold bullion while enacting his revenge.
Head over to Amazon Prime for the last two Die Hard movies
The latter two entries in the Die Hard series, both available for rent on Amazon, weren't quite as well-received as the first three — but when it comes to big-budget, high-octane explosion-fests, you could certainly do a lot worse. 2007's Live Free or Die Hard was controversial among fans even before its release, as it was the first of the Die Hard flicks to be rated PG-13 rather than R. In it, McClane must enlist the help of a "white hat" hacker (Justin Long) to thwart the efforts of a gang of cyberterrorists intent on driving America to its knees by way of attacks on its infrastructure — a mission that is complicated when the baddies get their grimy mitts on McClane's estranged, previously unseen daughter Lucy (Mary-Elizabeth Winstead).
2013's A Good Day to Die Hard transports the action to Russia, where yet another previously-unseen child of McClane, Jack (Jai Courtney), is working undercover for the CIA. Jack's plans to expose the corruption of a Russian government official are met with a bit of a complication when a bomb is detonated in the courthouse on the day Jack is set to testify in the trial of a government whistleblower. Now on the run, Jack enlists dear old Dad's help to unravel a complicated plot that turns out to involve the theft of some very, very dangerous booty.
There you have it — you're ready to settle in for a full day of Yippee-Ki-Yaying action. It's worth noting that the streaming rights to all five Die Hard movies are owned by 20th Century Studios, now a part of the Walt Disney Company — so if the Mouse House ever settles on a permanent streaming home for its more adult-oriented content, the entire series may one day be under one roof.