"How can the same shit happen to the same guy three times?"
DieHard Is Back is a two-minute commercial for the Die Hard franchise used to promote Advance Auto Parts's DieHard brand of car batteries that aired in 2020.
John McClane (Bruce Willis) is driving through a junkyard when his car battery goes dead. While walking to an Advance Auto Parts store, he runs into his old enemy Theo (Clarence Gilyard), who sends his thugs after him. McClane goes on the run and is eventually helped by Argyle (De'voreaux White).
DieHard Is Back provides examples of:
- Air-Vent Passageway: After buying a battery, McClane is forced to go through the Advance Auto Parts building's air ducts to evade the thugs. He is not happy about it.
- Back for the Dead: Theo is the only member of Gruber's team who ends the first film Put on a Prison Bus. Not so much here.
- Borrowed Catch Phrase: When Theo is defeated, Argyle is the one who says, "Yippee-ki-yay!"
- Busman's Holiday: It's just McClane's luck that going out to get a new battery leads to him having another battle for his life.
- Curse Cut Short:
- When Theo realizes there is a primed grenade next to him, he screams, "Oh, sh-" before it explodes.
- When Argyle says, "Yippee-ki-yay!", McClane cuts him off before he can say, "Motherfucker!"
- "Die Hard" on an X: Aside from the obvious pun, part of the ad is Die Hard in an Advance Auto Parts store.
- Double-Meaning Title: Besides the obvious reference to the Die Hard franchise returning for a commercial, this was made to announce the return of the DieHard battery brand after Advance Auto Parts bought the brand from Sears in 2019.
- Grand Finale: An unintentional example; this is the last work in the Die Hard franchise with Willis playing McClane, as the actor retired three years later due to his aphasia diagnosis.
- Hey, That's My Line!: McClane says this when Argyle says, "Yippee-ki-yay!"
- Improvised Weapon: McClane smacks a thug in the face with the battery.
- Oh, Crap!: When Theo notices McClane threw a grenade near him, he screams in horror right before he blows up.
- Super-Stoic Shopkeeper: The cashier at Advance Auto Parts is unfazed when McClane storms the store while under fire.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!:
- After buying the battery with the thugs outside the store, McClane asks the cashier if there is another way out of the building. She points at the air vent and he responds with this.
- McClane also does this when he runs into Argyle and finds that he's still a limo driver after all these years.
