John McClane is Indiana Jones

John McClane is Indiana Jones

By Darrin Jones / February 28

You have to admit, the Die Hard and the Indiana Jones franchise have a lot of similarities. Almost too many similarities. Think I’m talking out of my holy grail on this? Well just listen up.

Die Hard and Raiders of the Lost Ark 

Our hero, a grizzled man of action, is drawn into a situation where he has to thwart a group of evil Germans from stealing something. They use their wits, their fists, and their guns to fight back against the German menace. At some point their love interest is held hostage but in the end they save the day and get the girl. As the entry into the series, it was a groundbreaking revelation on film. The tone was pure action and danger; we’re constantly rooting for the hero and booing the villain and the audience loved every second of it. 

Die Hard 2 and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

A break from the original, this installment has our hero trapped unexpectedly because of plane trouble. The villain is a mysterious group that has suddenly taken over a location and terrorize its occupants. Throwbacks to the original are brought up in subtle ways as little asides for the audience. Finally, our hero has to return the statuesque in order to spare innocent lives and, again, get the girl in the end. This is regarded as the darkest of the franchise. Our hero is unable to stop all the innocent casualties as he would’ve liked. While this is probably the thinest link between to the two franchises, they are both considered the weakest link in their respective quadrilogies even though they were the most distinct.

Die Hard: With a Vengeance and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Our hero is once again is faced with a German threat but this time they are aided by a sidekick/veteran actor (for Die Hard, Samuel L. Jackson; for Indiana Jones, Sean Connery.) And the dialogue between the characters just steal the show. The hero and his sidekick must decipher clues along the way to reach their objective and again stop the protagonist from stealing something valuable. The sidekicks get shot near the end and it is only by solving the last clue do our protagonist defeat their foreign foe. But, in this installment, our heros don’t get the girl in the end and instead the credits roll on the two partners celebrating their success. The movie is a return to form as it has several direct links to the original; it is also agreed upon as the strongest and most popular of the four. Both movies were projected to be the end of a trilogy but were disappointingly proven wrong.

Live Free or Die Hard and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

In this unnecessary finale, our hero is thrust into an age they don’t quite understand and are ill-prepared for. The hero picks up a quirky young side kick/young actor (for Die Hard, Justin Long; for Indiana Jones, Shia LaBeouf.) And despite the fact that the fate of the United States is at stake, our heros are pushed to the side by the higher authorities and have to pursue the villainous force of their modern day on their own. Both films were a jarring clash with their previous films as they made the characters feel old and out of place. Both films also have a strong emphasis on family, fatherhood, and parenting. (For Die Hard, McClane’s daughter; for Indiana Jones, Indiana’s son.)

While both films deal with different genres -- Die Hard representing the ‘cop on the edge who takes the law into his own hands’ and Indiana Jones representing the ‘action and adventure all American hero’ -- they are considered masterpieces and despite an unfortunate attempt to squeeze out a little more profit from the series they are still classics. John McClane is Indiana Jones but in a different era. The men are the same protagonist and symbol of manliness for their generation and the idealized action hero we have come to adore. Just be careful if these two ever do a crossover movie for the shear amount of manliness could create the most action-packed universe destroying paradox mankind has ever known. And it would be awesome.