[Limelight] 'Goodbye' Bruce Willis

Retiring from Acting Due to Aphasia... Despite Being Mocked as a 'Has-Been Actor,' He Gave His Best Until the End
Portraying the Hero America Needed in the 1980s... A Humanized Icon of the Era
Blockbuster Streak Starting with 'Die Hard'... An Antihero Resolving Cases with Tenacity
New Expression Awakened Through 'Armageddon,' Perfected in 'The Sixth Sense'

Hollywood actor Bruce Willis has retired due to aphasia. The reason is a decline in cognitive ability to the point where he can no longer act. Recently, he received his drastically reduced lines through an earpiece and relied on stunt doubles for most of the action scenes. There were times when he did not even know what movie he was filming. This seems to explain why he appeared in fourteen low-grade video-on-demand (VOD) films over the past three years. He did not mind being mocked as a washed-up actor. He gave his best performance until the very end in front of the camera.

Willis's acting career can be summarized by strong determination. The movie title that engraved his name in the public’s mind is “Die Hard (1988),” meaning “to suffer to death.” The John McClane he portrayed became a cultural icon following John J. Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) in the 1980s, a time when new leadership and heroes were demanded. He announced the return of strong masculinity and openly expressed resentment toward bureaucracy and modern society. Unlike Rambo, who played an antisocial role, McClane was rather humorous and full of humanity.

One can see this from the opening scene at Los Angeles airport. When the plane violently shakes during landing, McClane tightly grips the armrest corner with his hand. A passenger next to him, who notices this, shares a way to overcome fear of flying. "Want to know how to survive a plane crash? When you arrive at your destination, walk barefoot and make a fist with your toes." McClane does not ignore this advice. Wearing a tank top, he sits on the toilet seat and repeatedly curls his toes. Feeling nothing special, he chuckles and mutters to himself, "What a joke. Making a fist with your toes."

His scoffing turns into a warm smile as he takes a family photo out of his wallet. This is the face of the American worker Willis frequently portrayed on screen afterward. In the 1980s, it became difficult for the American middle class to enjoy a prosperous life. The neoliberal economic ideology, which advocated tearing down market barriers between countries and free trade, took root, shattering the myth of a manufacturing powerhouse. With women entering the workforce, even the father's role was diminished, leading to a crisis of masculinity. Social activists like Robert Bly argued that fathers no longer served as role models to raise their sons to be men, and restoring masculinity was an urgent task for American society. Hollywood responded to this fervent demand with action films starring white men as protagonists. Films such as “The Terminator (1984),” “Indiana Jones (1984),” “Top Gun (1986),” “Lethal Weapon (1987),” and “RoboCop (1987)” were released one after another.

“Die Hard” took a turn from the ideal model toward empathy. McClane is close to an anti-hero. He is weak and alienated at home. The process of solving the incident is rough and crude. He constantly smokes and swears while brutally defeating terrorists. He has no special skills. He simply clings to the opponent’s back like a cicada and chokes them. However, his determination is considerable, as he clings on even when walls break and he tumbles down stairs. The police and federal agents who arrive late to help him are of no use. McClane laments with a frustrated face, "I never want to come to a high-rise building like this again. God, please save me."

Willis, who had only stood out in one drama (Blue Moon Express), rose to become Hollywood’s top star overnight. All four sequels and every movie he appeared in were hits. The peak was “Armageddon (1998),” which earned $553.7 million (about 671.9 billion won) at the box office. Willis played Harry Stamper, who installs a nuclear warhead on an asteroid the size of Texas heading toward Earth. Like McClane, he was a man of determination overflowing with family love, but his expression was completely different. He boldly abandoned his previous acting patterns and techniques, changing everything from speech rhythm to physical expression. He skillfully combined emotional excitement and unwavering resolve to create a rare emotional impact in a Michael Bay film.

A representative example is the tense moment when the Department of Defense tries to detonate the nuclear bomb remotely without drilling a hole in the asteroid’s surface. Stamper overpowers Colonel William Sharp (William Fichtner) with a wrench and persuades him with tears in his eyes. "I’ve been drilling into the Earth’s surface for 30 years. I’ve never failed to reach the target depth once. This time, I will definitely drill 800 feet! I can’t do it alone. Help me, Colonel. I swear to the heavens, I will get through."

Willis did not rely on emotional appeals. Rather, he spoke calmly to minimize any chance of being misunderstood as scolding or threatening. He kept looking at Fichtner with kind eyes, infusing warmth throughout the film. He met acting coach Harold Guskin and was able to awaken to a free and creative method of expression. He fully expressed his inner instincts, emotions, and the roughness of real life, becoming one with Stamper.

The newly discovered potential later developed into a driving force to break free from the action movie mold. The highlight was Dr. Malcolm Crowe in “The Sixth Sense (1999),” who emotionally conveyed romance and horror. With a calm expression and tone, he evenly delivered both poignancy and chilling tension. Willis devoted considerable effort to the emotional foundation. It was an expression of love and apology toward his wife Anna Crowe (Olivia Williams), reflected in the framed certificate of his achievements. His mature acting revealed his sincere feelings to his wife, who was sidelined due to her work in child psychology, amplifying the regret and anguish in the latter part of the film. This, combined with director M. Night Shyamalan’s implication that he was still trapped in a frame and unable to see his surroundings, awakened the values of cycle and regeneration.

Dr. Crowe is a shadow figure who separates life and death to create self and other. Breaking free from infinite frames and facing the truth, he realizes that he has been healed by Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), whom he counseled. Such blind spots in life become the starting point of tragedy when we confine ourselves to a specific frame. We hope that Willis, who has moved many with his mature acting, will face the truth again and rise once more.