Face-Off: Martin Riggs vs. John McClane

You know how every now and then there are men who come along that every woman wants to be with, and every man wants to simply be? Well there is John McClane in a nutshell. We are introduced to John’s way with women, his laid back demeanor, his humor. We discover he’s having problems with his marriage, but loves her all the same and is trying to set things right. But he’s also a men, and what do we men do? We f*ck things up. A mans man indeed.

Doesn’t John just seem like a man among men? His way of sticking it to his rivals with his wisecracks just made him the coolest man on the planet when I watched these films as a kid. His interactions with supporting characters were always great and sometimes touching (looking at you Carl Winslow). Our man McClane doesn’t go jumping into the fray the way Riggs does, but when trouble finds him..damn if it isn’t nut up or shut up time for him. That was always more fun and bad ass to me. Am I alone?

Two words comes to mind when I think of John McClane’s ass kicking ability: innovation and improvisation. John’s ability to employ whatever is around him at the time to dispose of those who dared to f*ck with him was a site to behold. The first Die Hard film had John most comparable to Riggs in terms of a smash mouth, as grounded in reality as possible kind of way when it came to his killing. As the series went on, John got a bit larger than life. No complaining. I wish I could kill terrorist on the wing of a plane, or chuck cars at choppers. But hey, I’m a man of limited ability.

-“Come out to the coast, we’ll get together, have a few laughs…” – Die Hard

-“Oh, we are just up to our ass in terrorists again, John?” – Die Hard 2

-” I threw his little brother off the thirty-second floor of Nakatomi Towers out in L.A. I guess he’s a little pissed off about it.” – Die Hard 3

-“Yippie-kai-yay motherfucker.” – All four