The 10 Most Iconic Bruce Willis Movies, According to IMDB

Bruce Willis has sadly become a fading star in 2022 with a lot of audiences feeling like his best starring role days are behind him. However, amid all the negativity surrounding his less than stellar output in recent years, people should never forget all the iconic movies that he has been a part of in the last few decades.

From the “yippie ki-yay” of Die Hard to the in-depth supernatural character study of The Sixth Sense, Bruce Willis has shown that no matter what he does now, he will always have proof that once upon a time, he was one of Hollywood’s greatest stars.

Live Free or Die Hard — 7.1

Live Free or Die Hard is the fourth entry in the increasingly ridiculous Die Hard franchise, and the first Die Hard movie to feature bald Bruce Willis. If nothing else, Live Free or Die Hard is a strange entry into the franchise as it changes the main character so drastically.

Up against a hacker named Thomas Gabriel, John McClane has gone from the reluctant everyman former cop to a stoic badass and generally regarded as a living legend.  He’s no longer the right man in the wrong place, but the man to call when the place becomes wrong. While fans do miss the more relatable McClane, it’s still a very solid action movie that adapted to the tone of its time, though it does feature some of the best and worst scenes of the Die Hard franchise.

Unbreakable — 7.3

David Dunn was a normal security guard who has his entire world shaken when he gets into a horrifying train crash that claimed the lives of hundreds of people. To his utter shock, he finds himself completely fine, and that fact disturbs him. Once contacted by the enigmatic Elijah, who claims he has superpowers, David has to re-evaluate what his purpose in life is, and if he will use his gift, or treat it as a curse.

Unbreakable was a deconstruction of superhero movies before mainstream audiences even knew what deconstruction meant. The film takes a slow-burn approach to the superhero genre by exploring how real people would react to having superpowers.

Armageddon — 6.7

Armageddon isn’t the granddaddy of all disaster movies (there’s been a ton of disaster movies ever since movies existed), but it can certainly be called the gun-toting patriotic uncle of modern disaster movies.  With names like J.J. Abrams, Jerry Bruckheimer, and Michael Bay handling an all-star cast, Armageddon was the quintessential blockbuster movie.

When an asteroid the size of Texas threatens to annihilate all life on planet Earth, the top minds at NASA team together to make a dream team of experts to stop it. NASA hires the best deep-sea driller in the world, Harry Stamper to drill into the core of the asteroid and blow it up with a nuke. Harry Stamper insists on building his team, and so it’s up to fourteen random blue-collar workers to save the world.

The Fifth Element — 7.7

Korben Dallas was an ex-soldier who has taken up the job of a taxi driver. To his surprise, a strange orange-haired woman jumps onto his cab speaking complete gibberish. Korben finds himself embroiled in thousands of years old conspiracy concerning “The Great Evil”, and has to help the strange woman (named Leeloo) to save the world.

The Fifth Element proves that no matter how ridiculous the setting is, or up against the wacky outfits of Chris Tucker or the gibberish of Mila Jovovich, 90s Bruce Willis will always be a schlubby everyman with a knack for wisecracks.  The Fifth Element is a strange sci-fi movie with some of the most surreal settings and characters in movie history. Considered Luc Besson’s best movie by many movie buffs, The Fifth Element was a great example of Bruce Willis’ versatility in even the weirdest of settings.

Looper — 7.4

Looper is set in the now not-so-far-off future of 2044 where crime has become rampant despite technology progressing. Hitmen are known as “Loopers” are assigned to kill targets from the future, ensuring they never existed. However, when Joe (played by Joseph Gordon Levitt) encounters his older self (Bruce Willis), he is overpowered. Old Joe goes on a rampage in the past to avenge his dark future.

Looper is one of the best time travel action movies ever made, and it’s in no small thanks to Bruce Willis’ great portrayal of a jaded hitman. Looper is a great movie that manages to ground the cyberpunk genre with a strong core theme about the cycles of violence and hatred, manifested literally by the very concept of Loopers.

 12 Monkeys — 8.0

12 Monkeys takes the concept of time travel in a more psychological direction. James Cole is a patient in an asylum, who claims that he is a time traveler from the future. Not only that, but Cole believes he needs to stop a deadly virus from destroying humanity.  Although it’s ambiguous whether or not he speaks the truth, what is clear is that he’s mentally unstable and stressed. When a doctor looks deeper into his rants though, they find that Cole might be making more sense than they thought.

With the direction of Terry Gilliam, this sci-fi movie explores how time travelers would be treated if they were suddenly thrust into the past shouting about the end of the world. In here, the time traveler isn’t some hardened badass, but a desperate convict who is in way over his head.

Sin City — 8.0

Sin City is a collection of gritty noir stories from Frank Miller, the king of gritty comic books, and Robert Rodriguez did a fantastic job adapting the comic to the big screen. Of particular note is the very first tale from the movie, “That Yellow Bastard” which stars Bruce Willis (with hair) at his crankiest and grittiest, alongside Jessica Alba. Bruce Willis’ schlubby but hardened cop archetype is the perfect match for Sin City’s grim streets.

Bruce Willis plays John Hartigan, one of the few incorruptible cops on the force, chasing after a child serial killer who just so happens to be the son of the city’s most influential senator, Junior. Despite saving Nancy, the little girl Junior kidnapped, Hartigan is forced to take the fall for his crimes to protect her. Years later, once he gets out, he finds out that Junior is prowling once more, and he steels himself to end that menace once and for all.

Die Hard — 8.3

Die Hard, the perfect Christmas movie focuses on John McClane, a man who flies out to Los Angeles to fix his marriage with his wife, Holly. They meet at Nakatomi Plaza, and though cold, it does seem like they’re on their way to healing. However, all of that is put on hold when a group of thieves posing as terrorists, led by the charismatic Hans Gruber, holds the entire building hostage, it’s up to John McClane to use his wits and good old-fashioned guts to save the day.

Willis’ role as the everyman cop John McClane elevates Bruce Willis to massive Hollywood stardom and spawning countless copycats in the process. Gone are the days of the invincible 80s action heroes, and in are the relatable, vulnerable yet incredibly heroic 90s heroes.

The Sixth Sense — 8.2

The Sixth Sense rocked audiences with its gripping tale of supernatural mystery and the depressing reality of how ghosts would be like if ordinary people could see them.  Honestly, if anybody has somehow gone their whole life without knowing what The Sixth Sense is about, congratulations to that person, they get to experience this Shymalan classic for its amazing twist.

Bruce Willis plays a successful child psychiatrist Malcolm Crowe, who is shot by a deranged patient of his who immediately commits suicide after the attack. When he finally recovers from the incident, he takes on the case of a 10-year-old child named Cole Sear. Seeing frightening similarities between this child and the patient who shot him, Crowe resolves himself to help this child avoid a similar fate. However, it seems the child’s “delusions” might just be real after all.

Pulp Fiction — 8.9

Bruce Willis gives some more star power to an already star-studded film from the visionary director Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction.  As the third lead character of the film, Butch Coolidge is a truly decent man who has fallen on hard times after accidentally murdering another boxer.

Butch Coolidge follows the archetype of 90s Bruce Willis being an everyman tough guy, but it does deconstruct it a bit. His anger issues are plain as day, costing him dearly when he accidentally kills his opponent in the ring. However, he isn’t an inherently evil person, just flawed, which makes Butch is the closest thing to a hero Pulp Fiction has.

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