After a long-running role in the hit TV show Moonlighting in the 80s, he began a moderately successful movie career. Comedies Blind Date and Sunset were up first, and he then took on the role that has thus far defined his career. Taking on the role of John McClane, one of the greatest action movie characters ever in 1988's Die Hard, he proved his mettle as both an actor and a man of brawn.
Sure, he made a few clunkers early on in his career. The Bonfire of The Vanities, Hudson Hawk, and Color of Night, are just three of the films that were complete box office bombs. But who can forget his performances in such movie successes as Pulp Fiction, The Fifth Element, and The Sixth Sense? And even when he did make a wrong turn in his cinematic career, he always had another Die Hard movie to fall back on. As an actor, he lent his considerable talents to a number of genres, and until this last decade, he came across as an actor who really cared about his craft. But in recent years, Willis has sleepwalked (not literally) through a number of awful B-movies and even gave a bad performance in the most recent Die Hard film, one of those franchise reboots that tarnish the memory of the original movies they were spawned from.
Will we ever see Bruce Willis back at the top of his game?
Yippee Ki Yay: The Highs Of Bruce Willis
We have already mentioned some highlights of Bruce's career, and while many of them predate the year 2000, his career hasn't been completely worthless in recent years. He famously starred as police detective Hartigan, in the graphic novel brought to life, 2005's Sin City. His performances were well-received in M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable, Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom, and Rian Johnson's Looper. He returned to two of his famous roles in the Sin City: a Dame to Kill For and Split. And he even had a voice role in The Lego Movie sequel.
There is hope for Bruce Willis, and when he does make an effort to 'act' in one of his films, we get a glimpse of the talented actor who wowed us back in those early days of Die Hard, Twelve Monkeys, and The Sixth Sense. But sadly, his current track record is littered with too many failures, and we are sad to say it, but he only has himself to blame.
Yippee Ki No: The Lows Of Bruce Willis
Sylvester Stallone famously called Bruce Willis greedy and lazy when he replaced the actor on the set of The Expendables 3. Willis apparently wanted $1 million a day for his work on the sequel, and Stallone quite rightly said no. Another spat with director Kevin Smith did him no favors, either, with Smith citing his experience of working with the actor as "soul-crushing." Due to the negative opinion of his peers, Willis has earned himself the reputation as being one of those actors that nobody wants to work with, and this could be why his most recent movie roles have been with directors who, let's face it, aren't exactly at the top of Hollywood's playing field.
Steven C. Miller and Matt Eskandari are just two of the B-movie directors that Willis has involved himself with, and it's likely that his affiliation is as the result of his desire for a quick and easy paycheck. Some of his film roles equate to mere minutes of screen time, so it's clear that his 'lazy and greedy' reputation is still not behind him. His performances have been mostly awful, as you will know already if you have tuned in to see Willis's cookie-cutter turns in such lowlights as Trauma Center, Survive The Night, and First Kill. Some would suggest Willis is going down the route taken by Nicolas Cage, but at least that actor has the excuse of unpaid tax bills to justify his curiously bad movie choices.
Of course, many actors take roles in movies that don't interest them. They still need to feed their families, after all, and those mortgages on their expensive mansions aren't going to pay themselves! But at least these actors break up their roles in trash movies to star in films that genuinely stir their passions, but this doesn't seem to be the case with Willis. A quick glance at his IMDB page testifies to this, as in the last 5 years (with only two exceptions), every one of his films has been bargain bin fodder.
Welcome To The B-List Party, Pal
What will become of Bruce Willis? Once the star of 80s movies that we still remember fondly is now the star of films that we want to forget soon after watching them. Once an A-lister, he is now a B-lister, and the future roles on his IMDB list confirm this. Even his planned return as John McClane is in limbo after the recent Disney/Fox merger, so not even his fallback role as the action character that cemented his place in movie history can save him.
Still, to quote John McClane in Die Hard, maybe this point in his career is 'just a fly in the ointment, a monkey in the wrench.' But if not, we don't want any further invites to the B-list party that Willis seems to be throwing right now. And if you follow your sixth sense, you might be of the same opinion.