Bruce Willis had one of the great Hollywood careers before his retirement. It will always be sad to think of how many more projects we could have had with the actor, but it’s far more important for him to spend as much time with his loved ones as possible. Either way, fans have any number of fantastic projects to enjoy his formidable presence in, from Die Hard to Moonrise Kingdom, and while the later years of his career had quite a few direct-to-video duds, his filmography still has something for everyone.
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This includes comic book fans, as Willis starred in five adaptations of existing comic book properties. Note that M. Night Shyamalan’s trilogy composed of Unbreakable, Split, and Glass was not included as it was not based on an actual comic book, rather just comic book structure and tropes. Furthermore, while 2022’s Corrective Measures was based on a graphic novel series published by Arcana Studio, it was released direct to Tubi in the United States.
5) Surrogates
Willis’ final leading man theatrical projects were unfortunately more miss than hit, including the likes of 2007’s Perfect Stranger, 2010’s Cop Out, 2013’s A Good Day to Die Hard, and 2018’s Death Wish. In terms of hits, there was Live Free or Die Hard (which did well commercially if not critically on par with the first three films), the two Red films (more on those in a bit), and 2012’s Looper. Unfortunately, Surrogates falls far more in the former category.
Like the recently-released The Electric State, Surrogates incorporates using robotic stand-ins while the user is stationary. And, also like The Electric State, it’s a movie with an ambitious concept that’s never quite pulled off in a way that is remotely compelling. If anything, it’s a fairly standard cop investigation movie, and a forgettable one at that. If you want to see Willis in a sci-fi movie, check out 12 Monkeys, instead.
Stream Surrogates on Hulu.
4) Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For was likely never going to be as solid as the first film, but the drop in quality was even more substantial than expected. It took nine years for co-directors Robert Rodriguez and creator Frank Miller to return to this grim, violent world and, while it’s visually and tonally similar, the magic is almost entirely gone.
One of the main problems is that, outside the title story, all of the best material from Miller’s books were used for the first film. “The Hard Goodbye,” “The Big Fat Kill,” and “That Yellow Bastard” are all the apex of Miller’s neo-noir saga, and even if “A Dame to Kill” for comes close, it can’t measure up to those tales. The only real checks in the plus column for the sequel film are Josh Brolin and Eva Green’s performances in the main segment as well as the Joseph Gordon-Levitt fronted original story “The Long Bad Night,” which is a predictable but otherwise fine addition to the Sin City canon. As for returning stars Willis, Rosario Dawson, Jessica Alba, and Mickey Rourke, all of them appear bored, as if they’re aware this sequel was going to fall short.
Stream Sin City: A Dame to Kill For on Kanopy and Starz.
3) Red 2
Red 2 and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For are essentially tied. The only reason Red 2 ranks higher is that it doesn’t represent as substantial a drop in quality from first film to second. Not to mention, in A Dame to Kill For, Willis looks bored and is underutilized whereas in Red 2 he seems to be enjoying himself and is center stage.
Even still, the aging badass trope had already worn itself out in 2013 thanks to the first Red and (at that point) two Expendables movies. Helen Mirren and John Malkovich are again there to deliver enthusiastic performances, but not they nor the addition of Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones are enough to liven up this spy comedy sequel.
Stream Red 2 on Peacock.
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2) Red
As far as spy action comedies go, Red is closer to Knight and Day than Kingsman: The Secret Service. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s a good time at the movies; but, by the same token, it’s still a movie that doesn’t really try to add much to a well-worn formula outside having its spies be in retirement.
Willis does a great job as Frank Moses and his chemistry with Mary-Louise Parker is rock solid, but at the end of the day this movie belongs to its supporting cast. Particularly John Malkovich, who enjoys playing against type as the paranoid Marvin Boggs, and Helen Mirren, who pulled off badass here before pulling it off again sitting in the driver’s seat next to Dominic Toretto.
Stream Red on Peacock.
1) Sin City
Willis starred in exactly one great comic book adaptation, and that’s Rodriguez and Miller’s Sin City. Everything about it works, from the visuals (which don’t look too glossy, as they did in A Dame to Kill For) to the across-the-board, note-perfect performances. As John Hartigan, Willis turns in one of the final excellent performances of his career, selling every ounce of the tragic character’s devotion to his job and young Nancy as well as the despair of knowing he can’t even so much as improve the city around him much less save it.
But the Willis-starring story, “That Yellow Bastard,” isn’t the only reason Sin City is arguably Rodriguez’s best film. Mickey Rourke’s work in “The Hard Goodbye” ranks right up there with his performance in The Wrestler as the best of his career while “The Big Fat Kill” is every bit as strong as the two other main stories that bookend it (before it is the first part of “That Yellow Bastard” and the entirety of “The Hard Goodbye” and the conclusion of “That Yellow Bastard” follows it).
Stream Sin City on Tubi.
