• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Die Hard vs Rambo - Which Five Movie Action Series Holds Up Better?

Die Hard vs Rambo - Which Five Movie Action Series Holds Up Better?

  • Die Hard

    Votes: 62 66.0%
  • Rambo

    Votes: 32 34.0%

  • Total voters
    94

ManaByte

Gold Member
Inspired by the 80s Action Heroes event going on in Call of Duty that focuses on Die Hard and Rambo, I realized both series have five movies. Which one holds up better?

Die Hard - Classic Perfection
Die Hard 2: Die Harder - Sub-par retread of the original
Die Hard With a Vengeance - Great sequel to the first movie
Live Free or Die Hard - PG-13
A Good Day to Die Hard - Bet you forgot about this piece of shit, huh?

First Blood - Classic
Rambo: First Blood Part II - Classic and iconic, but in a different way than the original.
Rambo III - Rambo helps the Mujahideen
Rambo - THAT FUCKING 50 CAL!
Rambo: Last Blood - Rambo performs a Mortal Kombat fatality on a cartel guy.

Die Hard has two AMAZING movies. But the fourth and fifth are absolute dog shit.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I didn't see the last Die Hard or Rambo movies. So I can only go y the first 4.

I'd take Die Hard easy. Both 4th movies were crap.

Out of the list Die Hard 2 is the best.
 

epicnemesis

Member
Die Hard and Die hard 3 are the only legit ones. 2 was a way too early remake and the last 2 are spin offs.

that’s how I rationalize it and you can’t change my mind.
 

INC

Member
Die hard last decent film was die hard 3, rambo was 4

but...

Die hard is better than first blood
Rambo 2 is better than die hard 2
Die hard 3 is better than rambo 3
Rambo 4 is better than die hard 4

So its 2 for 2

The rest dont matter

In terms of film quality of those wins, die hard 1+3, are better than rambo 2+4

So die hard wins overall
 
Last edited:

ManaByte

Gold Member
Both 4th movies were crap.
Wrong.

Suspicious John Rambo GIF
 

Boss Mog

Member
Die Hard and First Blood were amazing movies, the strongest of their franchises imho.

Rambo 2 and 3 weren't great, a bit too ridiculous and over the top. Rambo 4 was really good, maybe it's because i went in with the lowest expectations but wow I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Rambo 5 was alright I guess for a swan song.

Die Hard 3 is the only really good sequel. 2 was just a worse rehash of the original and 4 could've been good but Olyphant's character was a terrible villain. Let's just forget about 5 completely.

I want to give Rambo the edge but Die hard 1 is just SO strong that I'll call it a tie in the end.
 

dr_octagon

Banned
Die Hard 2 had all the ingredients, villain, plot twist, high stakes, decent set pieces etc but it doesn't quite work.

It needs better pacing, a variety on locations, a longer duration (within the film) because it feels everything happens in quick succession.

It's like a undercooked microwaved egg instead of a nice poached one.
I didn't see the last Die Hard or Rambo movies. So I can only go y the first 4.

I'd take Die Hard easy. Both 4th movies were crap.

Out of the list Die Hard 2 is the best.

Die Hard Smile GIF by Sky
 

MastaKiiLA

Member
Die Hard easily, eventhough 5 was a Jai Courtney-smeared turd. John McClane is the better John here. Also, let's be honest, the Rambo movies weren't all that good. Maybe First Blood...maybe. But it was born out of the steroid-fueled 80s action era. And Rambo wasn't even the best the 80s had to offer, with Arnie's Predator and Commando being far-superior thrill rides. Die Hard was so good, it forced its way into the Christmas movie genre. 2 was so-so. 3 was awesome. 4 is my guilty pleasure. 5...let's never speak of it again. Die Hard by the height of the Nakatomi Tower.
 
Last edited:

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
I didn't see the last Die Hard or Rambo movies. So I can only go y the first 4.

I'd take Die Hard easy. Both 4th movies were crap.

Out of the list Die Hard 2 is the best.
Rambo 4 was basically 90% dehumanizing and demonizing the enemy to the point that you wish the worst torment possible on them guilt free, and then 10% Rambo blowing the ever loving shit out of them.
On that level it is very effective!
 

ManaByte

Gold Member
Rambo 4 was basically 90% dehumanizing and demonizing the enemy to the point that you wish the worst torment possible on them guilt free, and then 10% Rambo blowing the ever loving shit out of them.
On that level it is very effective!


or2dyikj84k21.jpg
 

Heimdall_Xtreme

Jim Ryan Fanclub's #1 Member
Inspired by the 80s Action Heroes event going on in Call of Duty that focuses on Die Hard and Rambo, I realized both series have five movies. Which one holds up better?

Die Hard - Classic Perfection
Die Hard 2: Die Harder - Sub-par retread of the original
Die Hard With a Vengeance - Great sequel to the first movie
Live Free or Die Hard - PG-13
A Good Day to Die Hard - Bet you forgot about this piece of shit, huh?

First Blood - Classic
Rambo: First Blood Part II - Classic and iconic, but in a different way than the original.
Rambo III - Rambo helps the Mujahideen
Rambo - THAT FUCKING 50 CAL!
Rambo: Last Blood - Rambo performs a Mortal Kombat fatality on a cartel guy.

Die Hard has two AMAZING movies. But the fourth and fifth are absolute dog shit.
You say that because the Call of duty Dlc right?

Rambo is superior to Die hard
 

QSD

Member
Die Hard easily, eventhough 5 was a Jai Courtney-smeared turd. John McClane is the better John here. Also, let's be honest, the Rambo movies weren't all that good. Maybe First Blood...maybe. But it was born out of the steroid-fueled 80s action era. And Rambo wasn't even the best the 80s had to offer, with Arnie's Predator and Commando being far-superior thrill rides. Die Hard was so good, it forced its way into the Christmas movie genre. 2 was so-so. 3 was awesome. 4 is my guilty pleasure. 5...let's never speak of it again. Die Hard by the height of the Nakatomi Tower.
Die hard was always a thrill ride type movie but it's tough to compare it to First Blood. I disagree that First Blood is part of the "steroid fuelled 80s action era", it's a more serious movie with a somewhat political theme to it and IIRC the focus isn't really the action, the focus is more on what happens when you train people to be killers and then expect them to function again in polite society. Out of all these movies I would rate First Blood the highest. But Die Hard is excellent too, it's just not playing the same game. It's hard to compare them.

The bizarre thing is really the contrast between First Blood and Rambo 2. From an introspective and critical perspective towards the army to some kind of all-action jingoistic vietnam revenge flick.
 
Rambo was a good interesting thriller. Rambo 2/3 were boring trash. 4 was good and brutal and 5 was very average.

The die Hard’s are all entertaining except 5, which was awful.
 

ManaByte

Gold Member
The bizarre thing is really the contrast between First Blood and Rambo 2. From an introspective and critical perspective towards the army to some kind of all-action jingoistic vietnam revenge flick.

Co-written by James Cameron.
 

Raven117

Member
The bizarre thing is really the contrast between First Blood and Rambo 2. From an introspective and critical perspective towards the army to some kind of all-action jingoistic vietnam revenge flick.
This. Totally different vibe from every movie listed.
 
Haven't watch the part 5s of either series. Might get around to Rambo eventually, but definitely won't watch another Die Hard after the one with the Apple Store guy.

Die Hard is the best action movie of the bunch. First Blood might be the best overall movie. The next two Rambos were fun. I like Die Hard 2 more than most. And Die Hard 3 was awesome so as a series I think it has to go to Die Hard.
 

kunonabi

Member
Rambo. Die Hard has the edge in the third entries and the second entries are basically a wash. Rambo wins everything else.
 
Last edited:

jason10mm

Gold Member
This is too tough to call. I saw Die Hard 2 in theaters in New York, which was about the most perfect audience ever for that film. So it holds a special place in my heart that is inexplicable (Conan the Destroyer is the same).

Anyway, I'd rather watch DH1 or 2 over any Rambo film, but rather watch any Rambo film over DH3-5.

The real toss up would be the Missing in Action series versus Best of the Best, all the Sniper films versus the Ninja ones. Was there more than 1 Gymkata film? I think so.
 
Tough call.

but I think the die hard highs are just ahead of the Rambo movies. That and we even got a movie with Sam L Jackson in god tier form

both have 3 pretty good quality movies (with the first die hard almost the perfect 80s action movie/ Xmas movie) and a couple of pretty poor efforts. (Die hard 5 is unbelievably a huge step down from the fourth. Which was already a massive drop !!! Seriously. From Hans gruber to swinging from a truck, that’s swinging from a helicopter 😬🙈)

special shout-out to Rambo 4, for showing what really big bullets going at high speed. Do when they hit people, boats and trucks
 

Xenon

Member
The first Diehard is better than all the Rambo movies combined. But the 2008 Rambo was damm good.
 

MastaKiiLA

Member
I'm surprised at the disdain for DH4. I quite enjoy that movie. My third favorite in the franchise, after 1 & 3 respectively. I mean, he kills a helicopter with a police car, he ghost rides a F22, and the parkour Frenchmen had some great stunts in it. Plus, the whole fire sale storyline was a bit ahead of its time. We saw just this year how hackers can take over an entire gas pipeline. I didn't mind Justin Long's character, nor Timothy Oliphant. It all worked for me, though it was about the limit for over-the-topness that I was willing to accept in a Die Hard movie.

The main reason I hated 5 was Jai Courtney, who just didn't feel like a McClane. The daughter in DH4 was fine, but the son just didn't pass for me. That and Bruce was very much mailing it in that entire film. The director of 4 hid that pretty well IMO, based on Kevin Smith's many rants. But in 5, it was obvious that grumpy Bruce didn't give a shit about what he was doing.

The 2nd movie is so forgettable for me, but I don't remember ever hating it. It was just kinda meh. Maybe I need to rewatch it from start to finish again. I've only caught the end a few times since the first time I watched, and I'm always left feeling a bit underwhelmed.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
Die Hard, but I didn't think Die Hard 4.0 was that bad, I actually enjoyed it. And Die Harder was just ok the first and the third films are my favourites

A Good Day to Die Hard is shit though
 
Last edited:

BadBurger

Many “Whelps”! Handle It!
I think the Rambo movies all suck aside from the second to last one. The previous ones were poor schlock, and the final one was poorly written and paced.

Meanwhile, Diehard 1 - 3 were great. What followed was just shity paydays for the stars and producers but if you understand that going in they're still pretty enoyable.
 

22:22:22

NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
I voted Rambo. Was more of a Rocky guy growning up. Fighting >> Guns. With that said I never took to the Die Hard movies so that's my reason I guess.
 

Tschumi

Member
It doesn't matter what Die Hard did after vengeance, everything rambo after first blood was an insult :p to me at least
 
Die hard has 2 and a half good movies. Rambo has 4 and a half. Die hards 2 great movies don't do enough to make up for the 1 bad, 1 horrible and 1 decent movie.
My vote is for Rambo.
 

YCoCg

Member
Rambo overall. I absolutely LOVE Die Hard and With A Vengeance but Live Free drags it down a lot, but then A Good Day fucking nukes it. At least Last Blood still felt like Rambo.
 
Top Bottom