Every John McTiernan Movie, Ranked By IMDb

Famed director John McTiernan hasn’t made a movie in nearly 20 years, primarily due to some behind-the-scenes legal issues. But as far as action cinema in the late 80s and early 90s, McTiernan set a gold standard.

Unfortunately, his output didn’t remain as strong, but there’s something worth watching in every corner of McTiernan’s filmography. Even still, it’s his earlier work that stands taller, with three of them being widely seen as outright classics. Few helmers direct one classic much less several, but McTiernan’s more than the average action movie director.

11 Rollerball (2002): 3.1

Mostly forgotten, Rollerball is most notable for being the movie that caused McTiernan some real-life trouble. It’s a remake of the 1975 James Caan film where an athlete is put in a game where he must fight for survival.

McTiernan’s remake removed the political satire of the original while upping the extreme sports angle to the maximum. It leads to the hollow experience of watching something try to be cool for 98 minutes. Unfortunately, motorcycles and “Boom” by P.O.D. aren’t enough to make for a memorable movie.

10 Nomads (1985): 5.3

McTiernan’s first film as well as Pierce Brosnan’s, Nomads was a curious little horror movie that nonetheless failed to gain much interest. Many in the audience found the mixture of horror and semi-light-hearted comedy to be awkwardly placed halves of a whole.

The plot follows Brosnan’s French anthropologist, Jean-Charles Pommier, as he studies a particularly interesting group of nomads (his forte). Soon, Pommier realizes that those he’s following around are very unlike anyone or anything he’s encountered before.

9 Medicine Man (1992): 6.1

McTiernan’s reteaming with Sean Connery wasn’t as successful as their first adventure, The Hunt for Red October, but it’s still a fine diversion. The real heart of the movie is Lorraine Bracco, who turns in an imminently likable performance as biochemist Rae Crane.

Crane is sent into the Amazon to find Connery’s Robert Campbell, a famed researcher. He claims to have found the cure for cancer but is having difficulty synthesizing it. At first, Crane finds Campbell off-putting. But before long she sees the heart that he tries to conceal, and the love he has to give the local tribe.

8 Last Action Hero (1993): 6.4

An underrated Arnold Schwarzenegger film, Last Action Hero is a jumbled viewing experience that has regardless gone on to gain a major cult following.

Written by Shane Black (who starred in McTiernan’s Predator), Last Action Hero is the type of movie that bites off more than it can chew. It wants to satirize action films (particularly those of Schwarzenneger and Stallone) yet goes about it in an overtly cheeky way. The movie has its merits and an above-average villain, but Schwarzenneger poking fun at his persona goes so far that the meta becomes mirthless.

7 Basic (2003): 6.5

McTiernan’s last released film (from all the way back in 2003) is, unfortunately, more of a whimper than a bang for the action auteur. Basic is a movie where the twists aren’t predictable, but when the tables are turned, the result is nothing more than shrug-worthy.

The plot follows John Travolta’s D.E.A. Agent as he investigates the troubling and suspicious disappearance of a famed and respected Army Ranger Drill Sergeant (Samuel L. Jackson). Travolta does well, but Jackson is given very little to do with.

6 The 13th Warrior (1999): 6.6

A massive box office bomb, The 13th Warrior is nonetheless held in above-average regard by IMDb voters. It’s an adaptation of the Michael Crichton novel Eaters of the Dead, but it failed to capitalize on his name brand, which had recently been bolstered thanks to Jurassic Park.

Antonio Banderas stars as Ahmad ibn Fadlan, an exiled court poet who joins up with some Vikings. Soon they learn of encroaching evil, and Fadlan must put his cultural differences with the Vikings aside in order to survive.

5 The Thomas Crown Affair (1999): 6.9

Remaking one of Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway’s best movies was no easy task, but McTiernan did well with 1999’s glossy and star-powered The Thomas Crown Affair.

The director reteamed with Pierce Brosnan for the film, bringing on Rene Russo for the Dunaway role. Brosnan plays Thomas Crown, a billionaire who decides to fight boredom by stealing a Monet for a seemingly impenetrable museum. Then, things get complicated when he meets Catherine Banning, an investigator working for the museum’s insurance company.

4 Die Hard With A Vengeance (1995): 7.6

McTiernan came back to direct the best Die Hard sequel: Die Hard with a Vengeance. Bringing in Samuel L. Jackson, with a Vengeance successfully changed up the formula McTiernan himself established with the original film (and which the 2nd film felt comfortable residing in).

The plot again follows John McClane, this time teaming up with Jackson’s Zeus Carver, an average everyday New Yorker (not unlike McClane himself). Together, they must determine the identity of “Simon,” a terrorist hellbent on playing games with the duo at the expense of human life.

3 The Hunt For Red October (1990): 7.6

The Hunt for Red October was McTiernan’s third classic and to date the best cinematic adaptation of a Tom Clancy novel. Featuring Alec Baldwin and the late Sean Connery in peak form, the film managed to take tricky and dense Cold War espionage and make it palatable for general audiences.

Red October is probably McTiernan’s most claustrophobic film (which is something he tends to do very well with). There’s an unpredictability to the movie that makes it very hard to turn off. Critics responded much the same way audiences did, and the film received several Oscar nominations.

2 Predator (1987): 7.8

The hard-R mixture of action and sci-fi thrills of Predator holds up to this day because of McTiernan’s expert precision when it comes to pacing. The more straightforward buildup seen in the first act is quickly subverted, and the movie becomes something entirely different.

McTiernan’s handling of Predator‘s action set pieces and slasher elements is effective in equal measure. Even the characters who don’t survive long into the film are at least somewhat memorable because McTiernan allows the actors to make their particular soldier somewhat in line with their natural personalities. Predator clicks, and it shows the director just about at the top of his game.

1 Die Hard (1988): 8.2

Quite possibly the greatest action film of all time, Die Hard set the stage for taking a lone character and pitting them against a group of baddies all in one constrained location.

Everything about Die Hard moves like clockwork. The setting, Nakatomi Plaza at Christmas, is unforgettable. John McClane is perfectly cast (Bruce Willis was primarily known for comedy when Die Hard was released) and very easy to root for. Throw in one of the best cinematic villains of all time in the form of Alan Rickman’s Hans Gruber, and Die Hard is everything anyone could want in an action flick.

About The Author

Ben Hathaway
(298 Articles Published)

Ben Hathaway is a Senior Writer (Lists) for Screen Rant. A former Therapeutic Day Treatment counselor, Ben is now a career writer. When not working, he is writing and self-publishing (on Amazon) novels under the name Scott Gray. In his spare time, he’s reading on the porch or watching every film under the sun. Ben can be contacted at [email protected].

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