Pulp Fiction
After starting out in comedy on democratic 80s TV showMoonlighting , Bruce Willis quickly established himself as a bonafide action star and loge office hooking . Willis used his earmark smirk and rugged charm to carve out a niche for himself as the wisecracking , workings - class activity hero .
In fact , Bruce Willis has become so intimately associated with B - score activity movies that many people draw a blank just how versatile an actor he can be . In a life history spanning over four decades , Willis has dabble in comedies , legal action picture show , horror , thriller , and even sci - fi . And while some of these movies rise to the level of modern chef-d’oeuvre , plenty of others make out across as misjudged John Cash grabs . So , here are 5 times proved Bruce Willis leaven he can act – and another 5 when he barely even phoned it in .
Can Act: 12 Monkeys (1995)
Terry Gilliam ’s head - bending time travel movie star Bruce Willis as James Cole , a prisoner from a dystopian future in which most of the world ’s population has been wiped out by a mortal computer virus , and those that last have been forced to live underground . His bossy master send him back in clip to search the origins of the disease , which they conceive was deliberately released by a terrorist group known as the “ Army of the Twelve Monkeys . ”
Praise was heaped on Brad Pitt for his supporting role as the mentally disturbed founder of the Twelve Monkeys , but Bruce Willis is the emotional heart of the movie . He play the doomed , fatalistic sentence traveler utterly , transform a character we initially converge as a drooling , grumbling monster into a tragical sub .
Can’t Act: Color Of Night (1994)
It ’s unjust to lie all the rap for the failure of this erotic neo - noir on Bruce Willis ’ performance . essay to capitalize on the succeeder of earlier 90s Verhoeven - esque erotic thrillers , music director Richard Rush leans heavily into the smut and erroneously trades suspense for melodrama . The resulting motion picture is an spotty , campy , exploitative mess , not helped by Willis ’ wooden twist as flagrantly irresponsible psychiatrist Bill Capa .
Although Bruce Willis famously bar all for the part , his private parts obviously did n’t obtain the same audience appeal as Sharon Stone ’s did days earlier inBasic Instinct(1992 ) , and the flick fail at the box part .
Can Act: Pulp Fiction (1994)
Arguably the greatest movie of the 90s , Quentin Tarantino ’s postmodern crime filmPulp Fictionhelped raise Bruce Willis ’ acting career after a string of flops ( including the aforementionedColor of Night ) . Featuring a warm ensemble cast , razor - sharp-worded duologue , graphic violence , and an unconventional tale structure , Pulp Fictioncaptured a common sense of effortless cool often imitated but never amend .
Willis is utterly cast off as maturate boxer Butch Coolidge , who is on the run from crime hirer Marsellus Wallace ( Ving Rhames ) . Marsellus had bribed Butch to take a dive in his most recent combat , but Butch or else wins the bout and flees with the money .
Can’t Act: Hudson Hawk (1991)
Not only did Bruce Willis star inHudson Hawk , but he also co - wrote both the film ’s screenplay and its report song . The resulting conceitedness undertaking is an embarrassing , cumbersome , unfunny lot of a picture . With stylemark thin - lipped smirk permanently etched on his face , Willis plays the eponymous computerized axial tomography burglar alongside partner in offence , Tommy “ Five - Tone ” Messina ( Danny Aiello ) .
While Willis delivers a few comme il faut wisecrack , his signature charm comes across as hammy , as the motion picture relies too hard on slapstick and campy overacting . It ’s unfortunate because Willis has proved he can be a expectant comedic thespian , but he ’s generally funniest when play against case .
Can Act: Die Hard (1988)
The movie that really found Bruce Willis ’ life history was John McTiernan ’s originative action celluloid , Die firmly . Willis act as off - duty police officeholder and down - on - his - luck everyman John McClane , who is inadvertently swept up in a hostage berth at his alienated wife ’s office building on Christmas Eve .
Bruce Willis is absolutely vomit up as the domain - weary , reluctant champion McClane , and would go on to reprise his office ( to variegate degrees of achiever ) in four subsequent sequels . However , this first entrant in the dealership is an action classic that also have Alan Rickman ’s unforgettable turn as deplorable mastermind Hans Gruber , arguably the best villain in natural action motion-picture show history .
Can’t Act: A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)
The fifth ( and currently , last)Die Hardfilm sees John McClane lead international to take down the Russians and rescue his boy ( Jai Courtney ) , an surreptitious CIA broker gaol in Moscow . regrettably , in a post - firm & Furiousworld where action movies are all dwell by unkillable superheroes , the gamy world that originally made John McClane such a relatable graphic symbol is lost amidst the bombast of an more and more ridiculous string of set piece .
Even Bruce Willis seems exhausted by John McClane ’s shtick by now and he spends much of the movie lazily reuse honest-to-goodness lines from early picture show in the franchise . But it ’s not entirely his faulting : the movie also suffers from a pitiable hand and a lack of any seemly character .
Can Act: Death Becomes Her (1992)
Robert Zemeckis ’ black comedy has Willis toy against character as meek and uneasy plastic surgeon Dr. Ernest Menville , who gets caught in a murderous love Triangulum with conniving frenemies Madeline Ashton ( Meryl Streep ) and Helen Sharp ( Goldie Hawn ) . thing take a turn for the supernatural – and the bizarre – when Helen and Madeline both take a magical potion that grant them immortality and eternal youth .
The effects might depend a little hokey by today ’s standards , but it ’s great watching these three Hollywood heavyweights overplay it up in this bizarre cult funniness . And it ’s Willis that almost steal the show – trading his ubiquitous smirk for oversize glasses and soup strainer mustache , he is n’t afraid to undermine his action star image as the pat , downtrodden Ernest .
Can’t Act: The Whole Ten Yards (2004)
2000 black comedyThe Whole Nine Yardswas a surprise hit at the box spot , but still never warranted a continuation . And yet , we got one . Unfortunately for all involve , this film just feel like a do-or-die hard cash grab and was universally panned by critics .
Willis ’ hitman from the original film Jimmy “ the Tulip ” Tudeski is now blithely retired and be out his years in domesticated blissfulness , occupying his clip painstakingly cleaning his house . However , his peaceful life is disrupted when his former mob boss ( Kevin Pollak ) is free from prison . Predictable and heartbreakingly unfunny , The Whole Ten Yardsis unfortunately another Willis attempt best forgotten .
Can Act: The Sixth Sense (1999)
Before M. Night Shyamalan became a travesty of himself , he was brag as Hollywood ’s heir apparent to Spielberg , mostly because of the breakout succeeder of his supernatural repugnance motion picture , The 6th Sense . The pic follows child shrink Malcolm Crowe ( Willis ) who is traumatized by the self-annihilation of one of his former patients . eld later , Malcolm comes across another boy who complains of similar psychological symptoms and he vows to make up for his past failure by helping the boy .
Thoughtful , multilayered , and concluding with one of the gravid twist conclusion in cinema chronicle , The Sixth Senseis a taut , frequently chilling thriller that rewards repeat viewings . But for all the critical praise heap on the film ’s direction and screenplay , it ’s really Bruce Willis ’ understate performance as tortured Malcolm Crowe that gives the film ’s ending its emotional catgut slug .
Can’t Act: North (1994)
Bruce Willis toy multiple roles seriously in Rob Reiner ’s famously fearsome family comedyNorth . The film stars a young Elijah Wood as the eponymous North , who decides to hold up out every bratty kid ’s dream and legally divorce his parent . A evaluator grants his request , on the condition that he finds novel parents over the course of the summertime , or risk ending up in an orphanage . Thomas Willis tell the pic and appears along the way of life as several adviser to North who help take him on his quest to chance a young family .
Despite the immense natural endowment behind it , North was famously panned by Roger Ebert and has even been label one of the worst films ever made . The movie ’s failure is n’t Bruce Willis ’ fault , but his number as a sardonic plaza Easter Bunny definitely did n’t help .
NEXT : Bruce Willis ' 10 Most Badass Movie Characters , Ranked
