From John McClane and Korben Dallas, to David Dunn and Dr. Ernest Menville, US actor Bruce Willis has played some fantastic and memorable characters throughout his career. The Hollywood star – who retired from acting in 2022 – took on some iconic roles throughout his time on screen, and brought joy to millions of audiences around the world.
These characters and a whole lot more featured in his best movies. Movies so good they are worth revisiting time and time again.
But out of all of Bruce Willis’ movies which are the best? Well, this post aims to answer that question with a spotlight on the greatest Bruce Willis movies.
Below you will find a run-through of the 14 best Bruce Willis movies to seek out. These are the films that every Bruce Willis fan (or Bruce Willis newbie) should pop on their watchlist.
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The Last Boy Scout (1991)
First up, Bruce Willis teams up with Damon Wayans for the action comedy, The Last Boy Scout. In the film, Willis plays private investigator and disgraced former secret service agent, Joe Hallenbeck, who teams up with football star Jimmy Dix to uncover a political conspiracy.
Directed by Tony Scott, with a screenplay by Shane Black, The Last Boy Scout is a buddy movie which struggled to find its audience upon release, but is now considered a stone-cold hit. The movie features some top action sequences, as well as a solid performance from Willis, who shares great chemistry with Wayans.
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Die Hard (1988)
Next up is arguably the most famous and iconic Bruce Willis movie of them all. It is the movie which cemented Willis as a film star, as well as an action hero, and is of course Die Hard.
Directed by John McTiernan, and based on Roderick Thorpe’s novel, Nothing Lasts Forever, Die Hard is an action thriller about a New York police detective who attends a Christmas party in Los Angeles only to find himself in the midst of a terrorist situation. The supposed terrorists, led by Hans Gruber, have plans to steal $640 million in untraceable bearer bonds, with only Detective John McClane standing in their way.
Willis took on the role of McClane for the film, in what proved to be a knock-out turn. His performance in the movie captured the audiences’ attention, transformed him into a leading man, and led to a series of Die Hard sequels.
Speaking of which…
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Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995)
Between 1988 and 2013, Bruce Willis starred in five Die Hard movies. Outside of the original, the best of the sequels is Die Hard with a Vengeance.
Released as the third instalment in the series, the movie sees Willis team up with actor Samuel L. Jackson for an action-packed thrill ride set in New York. In the film, John McClane and his civilian partner, Zeus Carver, get caught up in an elaborate game of cat and mouse orchestrated by a mysterious bomber named ‘Simon’.
John McTiernan returned to the director’s chair for this third Die Hard movie, which was both a critical and commercial hit upon release. The film is generally considered to be one of the best action films of the ‘90s, and an excellent Bruce Willis movie.
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The Fifth Element (1997)
In The Fifth Element, Willis plays taxi driver and former special forces major Korben Dallas. In the movie, Dallas finds himself caught up in a race to save the planet, when a mysterious young woman named Leeloo falls into his cab.
Directed and co-written by Luc Besson, and set in the 23rd century, The Fifth Element stars Milla Jovovich, Ian Holm, Chris Tucker, and Gary Oldman. The film is a futuristic sci-fi action film with heaps of style, and some excellent performances.
Released in 1997, the movie was praised for its visual aesthetic, was nominated for an Academy Award for sound, and was a box-office hit. The picture took over $263 million from a budget of $90 million, and picked up a loyal fan base in the process.
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Pulp Fiction (1994)
In director Quentin Tarantino’s ensemble movie, Pulp Fiction, Willis plays ageing boxer Butch Coolidge, alongside a cast which includes Uma Thurman, John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Walken, Eric Stoltz, Harvey Keitel, and Tim Roth. The film – widely regarded as Tarantino’s signature picture – features four intertwining tales, all revolving around some aspect of crime in Los Angeles, and is built around an unconventional storytelling structure which places events out of chronological order.
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12 Monkeys (1995)
Directed by Terry Gilliam, and based on Chris Marker’s black-and-white short film, La Jetée, 12 Monkeys is a mind-twisting sci-if picture about a convict who is sent back to the past to uncover the truth about a mysterious virus. Willis takes on the lead role of time-travelling prisoner, James Cole, alongside a cast which includes Brad Pitt, Madeleine Stowe, Christopher Plummer, and David Morse.
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The Sixth Sense (1999)
Up next is another one of Willis’ most iconic roles. Ask anyone on the street to name a Bruce Willis movie other than Die Hard, and The Sixth Sense will be the most popular answer – and for good reason too!
Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, The Sixth Sense is a captivating psychological thriller about a child psychologist named Malcolm Crowe, whose latest patient, Cole Sear, claims he can see and communicate with ghosts. During the course of the movie, Crowe attempts to help the boy, with some surprising results.
Willis takes on the role of Malcolm Crowe, with Haley Joel Osment as Cole, and Toni Collette as Cole’s mother. The film is loaded with atmosphere, suspense, and fantastic performances from the central trio, and includes one of the greatest final acts of any film.
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Unbreakable (2000)
In this next movie, Willis and writer/director M. Night Shyamalan re-team for the super hero thriller, Unbreakable. The movie casts Willis as security guard, and lone survivor of a devastating train derailment, David Dunn, who slowly comes to realise he may have super human abilities.
In the film, David is sceptical about his supposed abilities, but begins to change his stance thanks to encouragement from comic book theorist, Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson). Price believes David has great power, and is determined to prove it.
Upon release, the reviews for Unbreakable unfairly pitted it against Shyamalan’s previous movie, The Sixth Sense, with a number stating that while it was good, the former film was better. However, later analysis of Unbreakable critiqued the movie based solely on its own merits, and the reviews became more favourable, with some citing the film as one of the greatest super hero tales ever shot and Bruce Willis’ performance in the film being amongst his best.
Sixteen years after the release of Unbreakable, Shyamalan created a spiritual follow-up, which in turn led to its own sequel. Willis reprised the role of David Dunn for both of these movies, which along with Unbreakable became collectively known as the Eastrail 177 Trilogy.
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Sin City (2005)
Next on the list is the neo-noir crime anthology movie, Sin City. The film – directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller, and based on Miller’s comic book series of the same name – includes an ensemble cast which includes Jessica Alba, Brittany Murphy, Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, Benicio del Toro, Elijah Wood, and of course, Bruce Willis.
Sin City is a highly stylised movie which tells a collection of tales that centre around a convict, a prostitute, the police, and a serial killer. Willis plays the role of Detective John Hartigan in the film.
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Death Becomes Her (1992)
In black comedy fantasy film, Death Becomes Her, Willis takes on the role of Dr. Ernest Menville – a man caught in the middle of two feuding ‘friends’ who are granted the opportunity for eternal life. In the film, friends/frenemies Madeline Ashton and Helen Sharp are each given a potion of immortality, which will keep them alive and youthful (so long as they look after themselves), and Ernest is the man they both share an on/off romantic relationship with.
Directed by Robert Zemeckis, and starring Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn, Death Becomes Her is a wickedly inventive picture, filled with witty lines and dazzling special effects. Unfairly critiqued upon release, the film went on to achieve commercial success regardless, and is now rightly viewed as a superb film, featuring fabulous turns from Streep, Hawn, and Willis.
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Armageddon (1998)
In Armageddon, the world is on the brink of disaster when a giant asteroid is on a collision course with Earth. With the clock ticking and destruction imminent, NASA recruits a team of blue collar deep-core drillers to travel into space, insert a nuclear bomb in the asteroid, and blow it up!
Completely preposterous, but endlessly entertaining, Armageddon sees Willis lead this Michael Bay-directed movie as oil driller, Harry Stamper. Willis is joined by a cast which includes Ben Affleck, Billy Bob Thornton, and Liv Tyler.
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Red (2010)
Inspired by the DC comic book of the same name, Red (Retired, Extremely Dangerous) is an action comedy about a former CIA black-ops agent, who reunites with his ex-team mates in order to stop an assassin. Directed by Robert Schwentke, Red stars Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Karl Urban, Brian Cox, and Mary-Louise Parker, with Willis playing the former agent, Frank Moses.
Upon release, Red was a hit with the critics and a moderate box office success. It went on to spawn a sequel, with Willis and many of his cast mates returning for Part 2.
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Looper (2012)
Onto the penultimate movie on this list: The sci-fi thriller, Looper. Written and directed by Rian Johnson, and starring Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Emily Brunt, Looper tells a tale involving time-travelling contract killers.
Willis and Gordon-Levitt share the lead role of Joe in Looper, with Willis as the older Joe and Gordon-Levitt as the younger version of the character. Both deliver excellent turns, with Gordon-Levitt wearing prosthetics to make him look closer in appearance to Willis.
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16 Blocks (2006)
And finally, in 16 Blocks, Willis takes on the role of alcoholic New York police detective, Jack Mosley. In the film, Mosley is tasked with escorting witness Eddie Bunker to a courthouse 16 blocks away, but his journey does not go as smoothly as planned.
Directed by Richard Donner (his final film before his passing) and featuring cast which includes Mos Def and David Morse, 16 Blocks is an action-packed thrill ride of a movie. The film includes a great performance from Willis, as well as smart direction from Donner, and is an entertaining addition to the ‘buddy movie’ genre.
Upon release the film struggled at the box-office, making back its budget but not much more. As a result, it often gets overlooked, but 16 Blocks is a real gem of a picture always worth a revisit.
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Recap
So, those are the fourteen best Bruce Willis movies. Now, to save you the hassle of having to scroll back up, here are the titles of all the movies in one handy list:
- The Last Boy Scout (1991)
- Die Hard (1988)
- Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995)
- The Fifth Element (1997)
- Pulp Fiction (1994)
- 12 Monkeys (1995)
- The Sixth Sense (1999)
- Unbreakable (2000)
- Sin City (2005)
- Death Becomes Her (1992)
- Armageddon (1998)
- Red (2010)
- Looper (2012)
- 16 Blocks (2006)
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