Bruce Willis's 8 Best Movies, Ranked

Ranked by movie.guru score, not by how loud your uncle gets about them. Two sequels sneak in. A Wes Anderson movie crashes the party.

Number one has an A+ CinemaScore and zero shoes.

1. 8
   Die Hard 2 (1990)6.8

   A photocopy of Die Hard, and a pretty good one.

   Willis's John McClane gets stuck at Dulles, again, and even he can't believe it. Audiences rank it above 83% of notable movies, critics 55%.
2. 7
   Live Free or Die Hard (2007)7.2

   McClane versus the internet, and the internet loses.

   Willis's McClane is an analog dinosaur babysitting Justin Long's hacker through a nationwide cyberattack. 82% on Rotten Tomatoes. Timothy Olyphant is a solid villain, just not Hans Gruber.
3. 6
   Sin City (2005)7.2

   All style. Willis's chapter is the only one with a heartbeat.

   He plays Hartigan, the last honest cop in a rotten town, and gives a comic book some soul. 8.0 on IMDb from 824,983 votes, but crowds handed it a B CinemaScore.
4. 5
   12 Monkeys (1995)7.7

   Willis at his most fragile, and it's his best acting.

   As James Cole, a prisoner sent back in time, Willis plays scared instead of smug. Critics rank it above 80% of notable movies. No catchphrases, no tank top, all nerves.
5. 4
   Looper (2012)7.9

   Grumpy future self is the role Willis was born for.

   He's Old Joe, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt spends the movie doing a Willis impression. Critics rank it above 92% of notable movies, audiences only 60%. Rian Johnson trusted you to keep up.
6. 3
   The Sixth Sense (1999)7.9

   His quietest performance is his biggest hit on this list.

   As child psychologist Malcolm Crowe, Willis barely raises his voice for 107 minutes. $672.8 million worldwide on a $40 million budget. Haley Joel Osment still out-acts everybody.
7. 2
   Moonrise Kingdom (2012)9.0

   The sad island cop is his most underrated role.

   In Wes Anderson's world, Willis's Captain Sharp is lonely, kind and quietly heartbreaking. Audiences rank it above 94% of notable movies, yet it made just $68.3 million worldwide. You skipped it.
8. 1
   Die Hard (1988)9.2

   The perfect action movie. Also a Christmas movie. Both are facts.

   Willis's John McClane, barefoot, versus Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber in one tower. A+ CinemaScore, and audiences rank it above 99% of notable movies. Metacritic's 72 is the only mistake.

$9,546 says you start the Christmas movie debate at a Halloween party this month.

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Current mood: ready to fight about it