Character Analysis - John McLane

Die Hard (John McTiernan, 1988): John McLane

John McLane is often seen as one of the typical 'action heroes'. He is a very arrogant, big headed, stubborn, chain-smoking New York cop. This is reflected in what we see of his personal life in the Die Hard films where he can never seem to get things right with his wife due to him not being able to give in. He is often in the 'wrong place at the wrong time' such as in the first Die Hard where he is only in Nakatomi Plaza on a passing visit. The audience get very familiar with him very quickly as the first scene in Die Hard is of him carrying a giant bear whilst also showing off his gun, therefore showing he does have a soft side as well as being a tough guy. His signature catch phrase 'yippee-ki-yay, motherf****r' shows he can also be quite comical and isn't entirely the aggressive, relentless killer he would seem to be if judged by his actions. He is also very intelligent, which is what seems to be looked for in an action hero as well as bravery. He shows this by knowing how it is possible to alert police of the terrorists in the Nakatomi building in Die Hard 1. He is also aware of how to unnerve the terrorists shown by when he kills the first guard, he writes 'Ho, ho, ho, now I have a machine gun' on his shirt. The sense of humour shown here is unnerving to the terrorists and it shows his confidence. The main reason why he is one of the ultimate action hero is shown by his bravery (or sometimes called stupidity!). In Die Hard 3, he has countless opportunities to escape and blame someone else but he decides to take 'Simons' challenges to desperately prevent any of the public being harmed by any of the bombs. Which he readily handles to try to dispose of without a second thought for his own safety. In Die Hard 3, he also shows incredible intelligence when he figures out 'Simons' plot to rod the federal reserve and instead of waiting for backup, decides to take all the guards on by himself. His overall fault seems to be unfortunately being in the wrong place at the wrong time and being completely outnumbered. His incredible resilience is why I feel many people admire him as even after being severely injured, he still continues to fight. This is why I feel he is seen as one of the 'ultimate' action heroes.