Bruce Willis’ Least Favorite ‘Die Hard’ Film Revealed

Die Hard is an undeniable action classic that propelled Bruce Willis from TV star to movie star upon its release in 1988. With five films in the landmark action franchise, most will agree that the quality of the films vary greatly, with most in agreement that few (if any) ever reached the heights of the original film.

In a rare 2007 Q&A with the website Ain’t It Cool News, Willis provided some surprisingly candid insights into the Die Hard films, and even revealed his lest favorite film in the series.

As you might expect, the first Die Hard holds a special place in his heart. “The first DH was the most fun, because it was all very new, and at that time I had no idea it would become a quartet of Films spanning 22 years,” he said.

As you might expect, Die Hard 2: Die Harder has not aged well with many fans of the series, and Willis revealed he likes it the least. “The second was my least favorite, and the least fun. Far too self-referentially precious, the story was all over the place, and suffered from severe un-claustrophobic-ness.” It should be noted that his Q&A was held long before 2013’s A Good Day to Die Hard, which could be argued is likely his new least favorite of the films, considering how poorly it was received by fans and critics. However, he never spoke out on it as candidly as he did about Die Hard 2.

Willis held the Q&A as part of his promotion of the fourth film, Live Free or Die Hard, which he thought was good enough to bring him back to the franchise 12 years after Die Hard With A Vengeance. “This last one was the most draining, physically, and mentally,” he said. “I will have been working on this Film for an entire year by the time it opens, but most definitely the most rewarding from an artistic standpoint. And I have already gone on record as saying it will be as good, if not better than the first Film.” Bruce Willis returned as John McClane – briefly – for a 2020 DieHard Battery commercial.

With Willis now retired from Hollywood and public life due his frontotemporal dementia diagnosis, it is unlikely he will provide any additional insight in his films, including Die Hard.