Die Hard Trilogy

The Die Hard Trilogy is a trilogy of action films starring Bruce Willis as NYPD officer John McClane.

Overview
The first film in the series, Die Hard, saw John McClane taking on terrorists in Los Angeles after his wife is injured in a terrorist attack. The film was a major success and a sequel was comissioned, leading to the release of Die Harder which was a more confined story, focusing on McClane battling terrorists who have taken over JFK Airport. The third and final film, Die Hard with a Vengance sees McClane dealing with the brother of the villain from the first film, who has taken his daughter hostage.

Die Hard
John McClane arrives in LA to visit his estranged wife Holly Gennaro, who works for the Japanese Nakatomi corporation. He meets up with her during the company's annual Christmas party, but she sends him away. After he leaves, he witnesses a bomb exploding in the upper floors of the tower.

Holly is hospitalised, and McClane sets out trying to identify the culprit. He is assisted by local cop Al Powell, and they uncover a plot against the Nakatomi corporation by a ruthless criminal known as Anton Gruber. McClane then decides to take revenge by hunting down Gruber's gang. Gruber ultimately holds up the hospital at which Holly is staying, taking her hostage in her room. However, McClane manages to shoot Gruber and Holly shoves him out of a window to his death.

Die Harder
Holly is returning home for Christmas and John arrives at JFK International to pick her up. Suddenly, terrorists take over the control tower and demand a ransom, otherwise they will crash the planes. As Holly's wife circles overhead, McClane identifies terrorists at the airport and takes them out, eventually identifying their leader as ex-Special Forces Colonel Stuart. As the villain attempt to escape on a stolen airliner, McClane makes his way onto the wing and confronts Stuart. McClane manages to pull to cord on Stuart's parachute, which causes it to open and suck him into the jet engine. McClae then ignites the fuel from the plane, engulfing it in a fireball.

Die Hard with a Vengance
McClae's daughter Stephanie becomes a rookie officer at NYPD while John considers retirement. He is unexpectedly called back into action, however, when a villain known only as Simon appears, threatening to blow up a subway. McClane intervenes, but Simon kidnaps Stephanie. Suddenly, explosives destroy all bridges connecting Manhattan to the rest of the world; trapping everyone in the city. Simon then reveals that he is in fact the brother of Anton Gruber and is seeking revenge against McClane. He also plans to use the current situation to empty the US Federal Reserve. Ultimately, Simon shoots Stephanie and escapes in a helicopter, but she survives. McClane later tracks Simon down and confronts him; they play a version of Russian Roulette which culminates in Simon's demise. McClane is last seen throing his badge away.

Video Games
Over the years, several video games based on the series have been released.

Die Hard Arcade features three different game types; third person shooter, rail shooter and driving, each being used in a campaign based off of the trilogy, respectively. Die Hard culminates in Gruber falling to his death, Die Harder sees McClane shooting down the stolen plane from a helicopter, and Die Hard with a Vengance ends with McClane driving his car up a ramp and jumping out before it collides with Gruber's helicopter.

Die Hard: Crow's Nest features an alternate version of the first film, with John McClae engages terrorists who have seized control of the Nakatomi building and ends when Anton Gruber falls from the upper levels to his doom.

Die Hard 2: Viva Las Vegas is a sequel to Crow's Nest and sees McClane taking on terrorists in Vegas; the true villain is revealed to be McClane's old friend Kenny Sinclair, who is killed in a shootout at the end of the game.

Die Hard Vendetta also features an original story and is seen as some to make the Die Hard Video Game Trilogy, being preceeded by Crow's Nest and Viva Las Vegas. McClane goes to Russia to take on a Russian general and must fight Hans Gruber, the son of Anton Gruber. Gruber is killed trying to escape in a helicopter when McClane shoots out a power line, which falls into the helicopter's rotary blades.