My Favourite Characters - John McClane

You wanna know what my biggest problem with Die Hard is? The tagline on the poster reads "Twelve terrorists. one cop. The odds are against John McClane...That's just the way he likes it.". the reason why that's my biggest problem is because they're wrong. That's not how John McClane likes it, that's not how he likes it at all.

Die Hard is in my opinion, the greatest action movie ever told, it has a simple premise that serves itself well with the genre, a lot of funny one liners and of course, some great action. But the biggest asset in Die Hard's corner, is John McClane played by Bruce Willis. John McClane is the greatest action hero because he is the least like an action hero. John McClane is a cop from New York who is spending the holidays in Los Angeles, when visiting his wife at an office party, the building is attacked by terrorists and John is left to fight them off all by himself. So what is John's first instinct? Go in guns ablazing and be the immortal hero? No. He finds somewhere safe to hide and tries to call for backup, because even for a police officer, to go up against 12 terrorists on your own is pretty fucking crazy. Even at one point when an innocent person dies, John says to himself "Why didn't you save him John!?...Because you'd be dead too ya fucking asshole" which is true. John is not an immortal character, he's running around a skyscraper, hunted by terrorists, no back up and doesn't even have any shoes, he doesn't stand a chance, and throughout the film, we see him get hurt just like any normal person, he steps on glass and he starts to bleed, he jumps through a window and it hurts like hell. But he never gives up. Those are the best heroes, the ones who start at the bottom and have to work their way back up on top, John is always the underdog and he's a very relatable and human protagonist for the audience. He's having marital problems, he's afraid of flying, he's got a bit of a temper, John McClane is not a perfect human being, but he's also brave, quick on his feet and can hold himself in a fight. We get to see John McClane the human before we see John McClane the action star.

And of course, he's a very funny character, he has the best one liners because of how natural they always seem "who's driving this car, Stevie Wonder!?" "Now i know what a TV dinner feels like" "No fucking shit lady does it sound like i'm ordering a pizza!?" and of course "Yippe Kay-Yay mother fucker". The best way to describe John McClane is "loveable asshole", yeah he'll call you a retard to your face, but he'll also protect you from gunfire. He both hates people and loves em at the same time, he may not always go about things in the right way, but his heart is always in the right place and wants to do the right thing.

John McClane is the ultimate action hero because he's one of the most humble action heroes, he's not immortal, he's not always smart, and he is clearly a very unlucky person, but he doesn't give up and always has a catchy one liner up his sleeve.

-Danny