Last Updated on September 6, 2024
Bruce Willis is perhaps one of the most recognizable stars in Hollywood. He is best known for his action movies that leave you white-knuckled until the credits roll. If you’re a Willis fan, an adrenaline junkie – or both, then we have found the perfect movies for you to enjoy!
1. Die Hard (1988)
Detective John McClane arrives at his wife’s work for a Christmas party but while he’s in the bathroom, armed men take everyone else hostage.
Hans Gruber is the mastermind behind a perfect plan to steal $640 million in untraceable bearer bonds kept in the building’s vault. But what he didn’t count on was McClane. As the two men square off in a battle of wits and violence, McClane has to overcome Gruber’s men and trigger-happy FBI agents to rescue his wife.
2. Armageddon (1998)
When NASA discovers that a Texas-sized asteroid will hit Earth in eighteen days, they hatch a desperate plan to stop the extinction of humanity. If the asteroid can be blown in half by a nuclear bomb before it reaches a certain distance from Earth, the planet can be saved.
But to insert the device, the world’s best deep core oil drilling team has to go into space. As the countdown begins, the drillers clash with astronauts, deadly accidents and tragedy that threatens their success.
3. 12 Monkeys (1995)
When, in 1996, a terrorist group called the Army of the Twelve Monkeys releases a lethal pathogen, most of humanity is wiped out. The survivors are forced to live underground but by 2035, they have the technology to send someone back in time. The idea is to track down the original virus and find a cure.
But the plan is not perfect. The man who is chosen to go back, James Cole, is a prisoner haunted by a particular nightmare and several times he’s sent to the wrong year, which almost gets him killed. When James finally makes headway he learns that the Twelve Monkeys never released the virus and that his nightmare is, in fact, a terrifying premonition.
4. Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
While attending Camp Ivanhoe, 12-year-old orphan Sam Shakusky meets the girl of his dreams, Suzy. A year later, they agree to run away together. So, when Sam disappears from the Camp, a search party is formed by his fellow scouts, the police and Suzy’s family.
The runaways love living in a cove they call “Moonrise Kingdom” and after they are captured and separated, several of the scouts decide to help Sam and Suzy get back together again. In this humorous and at times dream-like story, Willis plays officer Duffy Sharp who leads the search for the missing kids and gives Sam a home when his foster parents no longer want him.
5. Death Becomes Her (1992)
In what is perhaps one of Willis’s best comedic roles, he plays Earnest Menville who is a timid alcoholic mortician trapped in a marriage with the narcissistic and ageing actress Madeline Ashton. When they are invited to the book release of Helen Sharp, Ernest’s ex-fiance and his wife’s long-time rival, both are shocked to find that she is beautiful and youthful.
Desperate to regain her looks, Madeline visits a mysterious woman who offers her a potion of immortality. After she drinks it, Madeline realizes that all injuries are now permanent and that Helen has also consumed the potion. Ernest gets caught in the middle as the two women throw down in a no-holds-barred fight to kill each other.
6. Unbreakable (2000)
David Dunn is the sole survivor of a train crash disaster that claims the lives of his fellow 130 passengers. The fact that he is completely unharmed and has never suffered any other form of ill health in the past catches the attention of Elijah Price, who tries to convince Dunn that he is a real-life superhero.
At first, Dunn finds Price a little creepy but under his guidance, Dunn begins to realize that whenever he comes into physical contact with someone, he can see all the crimes that the person has committed. He rescues two children this way but when he shakes Price’s hand, he learns a terrible secret about his mentor.
7. Pulp Fiction (1994)
This cinematic classic follows several people in the life of gangster Marsellus Wallace. Samuel L Jackson plays a hitman, Jules Winnfield, employed by Wallace and although he excels at his job Jules is having second thoughts about his life of crime.
Throughout the story, Jules and his partner run into the other main characters; Wallace’s bored wife (Uma Thurman) who overdoses on their watch and the wily man Wallace ordered them to kill, Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis). As their lives merge, the results are violent, heartwarming, and life-changing.
8. Hostage (2005)
Hostage negotiator Jeff Talley is deeply traumatized after he fails to save a family in Los Angeles. Moving to Ventura County, he hopes for a quiet life for him, his wife and their daughter. A year later, three men arrive and plan to steal a car from a wealthy man called Walter Smith.
They botch the robbery and take Smith and his two children hostage. The situation quickly turns deadly and Talley is called in to negotiate. Still traumatized by his failure in Los Angeles, Talley refuses. However, the hostage Walter works for a dangerous syndicate who gives Talley an ultimatum – retrieve a certain item from the house or lose his own family.
9. 16 Blocks (2006)
Jack Mosley is a burnt-out NYPD detective who is assigned to transport a witness to court so that he can testify against corrupt cops. The trip is only 16 blocks but the drive turns into a fight for survival when mysterious shooters descend on them. Trapped inside a bar, it quickly becomes clear that Mosley’s partner and other corrupt cops will do anything to stop the witness from testifying.
10. Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995)
This sequel follows the blockbuster, Die Hard, in which police officer John McClane saved a group of hostages from criminal mastermind Hans Gruber. Sometime later, a bomb rips through a department store in New York City and the bomber insists that McClane perform a series of tasks – or else he will detonate more bombs in places like shops and schools.
While McClane races to beat the scavenger hunt from hell, he accidentally involves an electrician, Zeus Carver. The bomber wants both men to follow his instructions but at one point, they realize that this individual has ties to Gruber and the bomb threats are a ploy for something other than revenge.
