★★★☆☆

Hard Kill is one of the 22 movies Bruce Willis made from 2019 through 2022. Most of these, including Hard Kill were straight to video. There was a lot of speculation about why such a sought after star would dive into the B-movie straight to video market. We now all know that Bruce has been diagnosed with Aphasia and has to retire from acting due to the degenerative nature of the disease. These B-movies are a last hurrah trying to pass the torch to current unknowns. I find that a very honorable and non-Hollywood thing to do.

Differences Between this and Die Hard

Bruce isn’t the central character. He has more lines than a true bit-actor, but isn’t the central character. This movie shows you the difference a massive special effects budget makes. They could blow a lot of shit up and do some very cool things in Die Hard. Special effects were severely limited here.

This is more of an ensemble movie. You get into more of the stories of the other characters. That’s not to say Bruce’s character doesn’t have a story line or a few clutch scenes.

Bruce Willis in scene from Hard Kill

Hard Kill Sets an Example

We need more benevolence in Hollywood, not less. It has become trendy marketing for celebrities to start charities to keep their name and image in the press. Damned few will “risk their professional reputation” to churn out a string of B-movies so little known actors can have a chance at a big break.

Admit it. Unless you are just flipping through the channels trying to avoid watching movies you’ve already seen N-times you aren’t going to add a B-movie to your viewing list. Well, most of you aren’t. Unless a B-movie releases straight to the cheapie theaters as the first run, it doesn’t have a prayer of generating much revenue. See my review of Momentum for more on that topic.

More big name actors need to take a look around and say “Hey! I’ve got enough money and fame. Maybe I ought to give something back?” After the Razzies gave Bruce Willis his own category for 2021 I went to dvd.com and added every one of these films to my rental list. You should too.

This wasn’t a bad movie and it was a noble thing to do. Rent it.

For more movie rental ideas please see list one and list two.