Die Hard series

Die Hard is a quadrilogy of action films. All of its films are centered around John McClane (Bruce Willis), a New York detective who, in every episode, finds himself fighting a group of terrorists. The franchise also features several video games based on the films.

Overview

Die Hard begins on Christmas Eve with New York detective John McClane traveling to Los Angeles to spend Christmas with his wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia), who is now living in LA with their two children and going by her maiden name. The party was being held at the fictional Nakatomi Plaza. During the evening, German terrorists break into the building and take the partygoers hostage. McClane escapes detection after having an argument with his wife and leaving to an upstairs bathroom. He manages to hide throughout the building, killing off the terrorists one by one. After a reporter reveals that McClane's wife is one of the hostages by interviewing their children, the terrorists take Holly in order to persuade McClane into giving up. He finally meets the leader Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) and throws him out of the window.

Die Hard 2 takes place a year after the events of the first film, once again on Christmas Eve. This time, John McClane is in Washington D.C. at Dulles Airport awaiting the arrival of his wife. While waiting, a group of terrorists planning on rescuing a drug lord have taken over the control tower of the airport. This strands several planes in the air, including the one McClane's wife is on.

In Die Hard with a Vengeance, set several years later, McClane is back in New York. He is now separated from his wife, suspended from the police force, and two steps away from being a full-blown alcoholic. A terrorist who goes only by the moniker "Simon" (Jeremy Irons) threatens to blow up various locations in the city unless McClane will play his twisted version of Simon says. McClane must solve a number of riddles and challenges in order to keep the bombs from going off. He receives the reluctant help of Zeus Carver (Samuel L. Jackson), a shopkeeper from Harlem who had saved McClane after the first challenge "Simon" had put him through. The FBI finally reveal that "Simon" is in fact Simon Peter Gruber, the brother of Hans Gruber.

Nineteen years after the original film, Live Free or Die Hard has McClane and Holly divorced. His daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), now in college, is going by her mother's maiden name and telling people that her father is dead. A group of cyber-terrorists begin hacking into FBI computers. The FBI then sends McClane to bring in a known hacker, Matt Farrell (Justin Long). In the process, a group of assassins hired by Gabriel attempts to kill the pair. Farrell tells McClane that the terrorists are actually in the middle of performing a fire sale. Lucy is captured by the mastermind behind the terrorists, Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant).

Development

Die Hard is adapted from the 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever, by Roderick Thorp. Nothing Lasts Forever is a sequel to the novel The Detective which was also adapted into a film starring Frank Sinatra. Both novels are about a private detective named Joe Leland. Die Hard 2 was adapted from the 1987 novel 58 Minutes, by Walter Wager.

Reception and box office

Film	Release date		Budget	Box office revenue			Reference
	Worldwide	United States		United States	Outside US	Worldwide
Die Hard		15 July, 1988	$30,000,000	$83,008,852	$55,700,000	$138,708,852
Die Hard 2: Die Harder		4 July, 1990	$70,000,000	$117,540,947	$122,000,000	$239,540,947
Die Hard with a Vengeance		19 May, 1995	$90,000,000	$100,012,499	$261,200,000	$361,212,499
Live Free or Die Hard		27 June, 2007	$110,000,000	$134,529,403	$248,747,776	$383,277,179
Total			$300,000,000	$435,091,701	$687,647,776	$1,122,739,477

Film	Rotten Tomatoes		Metacritic	Yahoo! Movies
	Overall	Cream of the Crop
Die Hard	96% (49 reviews)	81% (7 reviews)	78% (13 reviews)	B+ (7 reviews)
Die Hard 2: Die Harder	47% (41 reviews)	51% (6 reviews)	58% (19 reviews)
Die Hard with a Vengeance	61% (43 reviews)	61% (9 reviews)		B- (6 reviews)
Live Free or Die Hard	80% (189 reviews)	77% (35 reviews)	69% (34 reviews)	B+ (13 reviews)

References