2020 marks the fourth decade of Bruce Willis on the big screen and what a ride it’s been so far.
For an actor who is primarily known for his hardman status, the man has some pretty serious acting chops: cool and charismatic but capable of turning a scene on its head with an emotionally evocative moment – the first five minutes of The Sixth Sense alone is enough to illustrate that! It’s genuinely shocking that he has never even received a nod at the Oscars but perhaps Academy members are a little long in the tooth for the prospect of dying hard?
To celebrate the restored re-release of one of Willis’s most iconic roles: Korben Dallas in the Luc Besson classic The Fifth Element, available in 4K UHD, Blu-Ray™, DVD and on digital download August 24th, we’re looking back at the actor’s storied career and best performances.
Die Hard (1988)
Where else to begin? Willis captured the character of John McLane so perfectly that the two have become pretty much synonymous, it is almost impossible to imagine one without the other. Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger both turned down the role of the high-rise Cowboy leaving the path clear for Willis to own the role, which catapulted him to international acclaim and made him a household name. The role was so celebrated, that Willis effectively superseded the Austrian hardman and Rocky actor to become the premiere action star of the 1990s.
Despite being slightly less exhilarating than the original – and lacking the sheer brilliance of Alan Rickman’s iconic turn as the villain Hans Gruber, the sequels have also been fairly well received and have kept the franchise going for 25 years earning a cumulative $1.4 billion worldwide.
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Rarely has a man wearing a ball-gag on screen looked so bad-ass. In a role with so many iconic characters, Willis still manages to shine as the aptly named prize-fighter Butch Coolidge.
Coming off the high of Die Hard in 1988, the early 90s saw Willis star in several box-office duds and as a result by 1994, his newly-built star-status was already at risk of burning out. Participating in the modestly budgeted Pulp Fiction meant lowering his salary and risking his lead-actor status, but the strategy paid off: Pulp Fiction not only brought Willis new respect as an actor, but also earned him several million dollars.
The Fifth Element (1997)
Willis managed to wrangle himself another role with one of cinema’s greatest character names when he played Korben Dallas in Luc Besson’s sci-fi epic The Fifth Element. The futuristic setting of the film was unfamiliar territory for Willis who had thus far made a name for himself playing gritty hardmen with their two feet firmly planted on planet earth, but Willis looks pretty damn fly floating around in a flying taxi cab and his nonchalant swagger had a bit of the Harrison Ford effect, grounding the supernatural sci-fi elements of the film with his urban edginess.
Armageddon (1998)
Remember 1998, when humankind’s largest anxiety was getting struck by a meteorite which would wipe out existence? Now, this may not have induced the daily existential dread than something like -say, a global pandemic, but it was clearly on people’s minds. 1998 marked the release of not one but two meteorite disaster movies – Deep Impact and Armageddon.
Alright – it might be a stretch to call Armageddon one of Willis’s finest performances, but you don’t watch a Michael Bay for the depth of character – you watch it for plenty of chaos, some awesome explosions and a few epic one liners. And who better to deliver those awesome soundbites than the yippee ki yaying, ‘Zed’s Dead’ delivering Moonlighter himself? Perhaps not his finest hour acting but a badass performance nonetheless.
The Sixth Sense (1999)
If we thought it weird seeing Willis acting in a sci-fi role in The Fifth Element, his performance as Malcolm Crowe, the child therapist in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense would appear even more out of character. But once again, the unusual casting delivers sublime results, showing Willis to be a much more versatile actor than the cut and dry hard-man he is sometimes made out to be.
Appearing alongside the 11-year-old Haley Joel Osment, Willis channels a terrifying yet vulnerable energy from the young actor and every scene in which the two appear together delivers exceptional results and incredible natural chemistry.
The Fifth Element is available in 4K UHD and on Blu-Ray™, DVD and digital download August 24th
