This is the kind of news that’s both disappointing and reassuring. After drawing up a wish list of directors to take on the property, Fox decided on the guy they went to in the first place: John Moore [Deadline]. The same man behind such fare as Behind Enemy Lines, Flight of the Phoenix, The Omen and Max Payne won out from a list that included Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive), Joe Cornish (Attack The Block) and Justin Lin (Fast Five). Lin has since dropped off to take on the next Fast and Furious flick and the next Terminator movie. Refn and Cornish will get other offers, I’m sure.
Before any of this, Noam Murro (Smart People) was set to direct, but then left to take on 300: Battle For Artemisia for Warner Bros. The reason it’s disappointing that Moore’s directing the next Die Hard is that the franchise is, kind of surprisingly, one of the most reliable in history, offering 3 and a half (most of Die Hard 2 was hard to watch) thoroughly entertaining films out of 4. Moore’s track record isn’t too hot. The man’s biggest success, critically and financially, is still Behind Enemy Lines, the Owen Wilson action flick he made for Fox back in 2001. As a matter of fact, every film of his has been Fox-produced. He’s their boy and will most likely allow the studio to dot every i and cross every t, getting exactly what they want. And while that’s not always the worst thing, directors like Scorsese and Kubrick got their names for rallying against – sometimes directly against – the studio’s wishes and making wholly unique visions of sometimes tired and used-up storylines.
The reason it is reassuring John Moore is directing the next Die Hard is that John Moore is directing the fifth installment of a franchise that should probably be put to sleep. Yes, the fourth was entertaining on a visceral level; and yes, Bruce Willis has still got it; and yes, no other series has more successfully jumped the shark (see McClane vs. jet sequence). But the series did jump the shark. And who wants an original visual voice like Refn or Cornish helming Die Hard 5: Shark-Jumping Harder when they could be spending their using their imagination and figuring out something new and great to offer movie fans?
Does the world need another Die Hard? Directed by John Moore?