Would John McClane have been charged with murder if the movie happened in real life?
The argument against that notion:
https://www.quora.com/Would-John-McClane-in-the-movie-Die-Hard-be-charged-with-murder-if-the-movie-happened-in-real-life/answer/Jon-Mixon-1
He's a hero - McClane saved the lives of the hostages and thwarted the terrorist's plans to destroy the building and to kill everyone inside. There's no way that a district attorney would risk his./her job attempting to try a hero, especially when the trial would almost certainly end in an acquittal. What is never explained is why McClane wasn't exceptionally wealthy in the wake of this matter as he could have easily turned his actions into nearly a lifetime's worth of fame.
He's a police officer - That fact alone would have cleared him of responsibility for the killings that he did during the takeover. Also, neither deputy chief nor the FBI specifically told him to "stand down" at any point during the hostage crisis. If they had and he chose to ignore them, there might be have been some issues. But they did not and the rest is "history."
The film carefully shows that McClane never killed anyone in cold blood - Every time McClane uses deadly force, the film clearly demonstrates that he is in safe legal territory to do so. In subsequent films, this becomes somewhat hazy as an out of his jurisdiction McClane frequently kills people without legal sanction.
Theo is the only terrorist still alive at the end of the film - Since he didn't directly witness any of McCain's actions, there's no one left to testify against McClane in case an overzealous prosecutor decided that this matter violated the law.
All in all, since he was bumping off all the bad guys and not actually killed any bystanders or innocents, he stands a good chance of getting off for self-defense. share