Bruce Willis in DIE HARD 2: DIE HARDER - A Movie Review

2008-10-10 17:08:54

"Die Hard 2: Die Harder" Movie Review. 8/10.
By Alex DeMattia. ALL ABOUT MOVIES.NET.

My first experience in watching the Die Hard films was actually with this sequel. Although it can't really recapture the magic or the novelty of the first groundbreaking film, "Die Hard 2" still manages to pull considerable punch and is a worthy follow-up. New director, Renny Harlin, wisely chooses to change the scenario which drives this film completely, shifting the setting to Washington Dulles Airport, with the bad guys this time being a group of ex-army mercenaries who have been hired to ensure the safe passage of drug lord General Esperanza (Franco Nero) from the airport. In some ways, the premise is perhaps not as believable as the first film, but give me an action film that doesn't suspend disbelief in some way.

William Sadler plays Colonel Stuart, a more down-to-Earth but no less ruthless villain who with his team of mercenaries manage to seize control of Washington Dulles International Airport at Christmas. At the same time, John McClane (Bruce Willis) arrives at the airport to pick up his wife who is due to land within the next hour. As you would expect, the terrorists take control and McClane goes to work, trying to figure out what's going on. McClane is frustrated by a stubborn airport police chief Lorenzo (Dennis Franz) who doesn't believe that anything bad is happening. But when Colonel Stuart announces himself to the control tower and proves his power by impersonating the control tower and crashes one of the planes circling the airport, McClane realises he's in the same situation he's been in before: "How can the same shit happen to the same guy twice!" he exclaims.

While this film lacks the claustrophobic intensity of the first film, it more than makes up for it with a much bigger canvas and some incredible visuals. The scene where Stuart guides an airplane in to the ground is thrilling, as are many of the action sequences which cover several sections of the airport. As with the first film, "Die Hard 2" makes no bones about showing lots of blood, breaking-bones and some nasty violence although just like the first film, there's a cartoon-like quality to it all which downplays the severity of it.

One aspect that this sequel retains from the first film is a build up of suspense and tension between the characters. This is no more evident than with the character of Major Grant (John Amos) who at first, with his crack anti-terrorist army team have been called in to help, and in several scenes, appears to be one of the good guys. He actually helps McClane at one point; McLane says, "I guess I was wrong about you. You're not such an asshole after all." Grant replies, "Oh, you were right. I'm just you're kind of asshole." Then seemingly unexpectedly, he actually turns out to be on Colonel Stuart's side. This two-sided nature of the character allows for a lot more intrigue to be injected in to the story, particularly as once Grant is revealed to be a bad guy, the character of Chief Lorenzo suddenly becomes a very useful ally for McClane.

One let-down is the quite over-the-top and unbelievable ending. When McClane finally got to Hans Gruber in the first film, it was very simple and thrilling - he just shoots him and he falls out the window. In this film, McClane (after engaging in a fist fight on the wing of a 747) pulls the fuel cap off the plane, lights his cigarette lighter and lights the fuel which catches up to the plane and makes it explode in mid-air. It's spectacular to watch but it's WAY over the top and in many ways detracts from the rest of the film which is a bit more down-to-Earth by comparison.

On a side-note, it's interesting to see Robert Patrick in a minor role prior to his role as the T-1000 in Terminator 2 .

"Die Hard 2" is an exciting, entertaining action film that although doesn't match the great heights of the first Die Hard still manages to pack quite a punch.

For the complete, original DVD review, click HERE.

Alex DeMattia is the lead DVD reviewer at ALL ABOUT MOVIES.NET.