The first "Die Hard" was mindlessness done right; the sequel is mindlessness done poorly. It feels more like a parody of the first film than a successor.

Rating: 6/10 (31 July 2011)

Renny Harlin's "Die Hard 2" has four of the same cast members, just about as many action sequences, and some of the same technical crew as its spectacular 1988 forerunner. And despite all that it has going for it, especially the charisma of star Bruce Willis, it comes across and far less captivating and surprisingly devoid of zest and excitement. In fact even though director Mr. Harlin would prove three years later that he has a talent for the mindless action movie genre with "Cliffhanger," his gift is only present in a budding form here and it's not quite enough to save the picture.
The first "Die Hard" pitted Mr. Willis against a pack of robbers posing as terrorists inside of a Los Angeles skyscraper. The sequel has him going horn-to-horn and fist-to-fist with a bunch of political fighters who have swept up control of an international airport. Turns out, the terrorists, led by William Sadler, want to salvage their leader, who is flying in on his way to prison, until Mr. Willis once again slides by unnoticed and begins to slowly foil their plans.
Had a better director, such as the original creator John McTiernan, helmed this one and a sharper, more focused screenplay been constructed been hired for the job, "Die Hard 2" would have probably resulted in being a more-than-satisfying successor. A sequel that works, in other words. But as it is, it seems like a watered down version of the said product. One of the things that made the first "Die Hard" work was an assortment of witty dialogue, a lot of them punch lines that amazingly enough seemed to come off quite naturally from the characters, as if that were the way people really talked. Even though the screenplay for "Die Hard 2" was put together by one of the same men, Steven E. de Souza (and another man, Doug Richardson), that flow of dialogue does not work. The screenplay is almost entirely made up of punch lines and it seems so much more artificial, so much more contrived and mechanical. As does the major plot twist that occurs in the third act. Potentially exciting, but coming across as flat and devoid of shock. But even the human elements, involving in the first, are dull here. Mr. Willis is still very charismatic and inspiring of sympathy, but he has no real dynamics with anybody in the movie. No connection with his wife (Bonnie Bedelia), no real animosity with the airport police chief (Dennis Franz), no real sense of friendship with the L.A. cop who saved his life before (Reginald Veljohnson), and no interesting villains to go up against. As the terrorist leader, Mr. Sadler gives an over-the-top, phony-feeling performance, surprising from an actor who is usually so reliable and his scenes are almost entirely just detritus, especially that completely laughable introductory moment where we see him playing martial arts in front of his television set, buck naked. He's no baddie compared to Alan Rickman. It's almost hilarious that the one character that Mr. Willis has the most interesting chemistry with is a rent-a-car airport employee (Lauren Letherer) with whom he shares a simple five minutes.
But even as a mindless thriller, the movie falls flat. Mr. Harlin would get better in time, but he shows very little skill for action here. The shootouts, fist fights, explosions, and plane crashes are all handled and photographed rather clumsily. A particularly bad sequence involves Mr. Willis dodging bullets fired from overhead by barrel-rolling across a hard metal floor. Shot in slow-motion and with far too little sparks to simulate bullet impacts, the sequence looks like a lackluster, ham-handed imitation, or even a training exercise video. Not that any person would be dumb enough to try and avoid incoming bullets that way as opposed to getting on their feet and bolting for cover. But most embarrassing is when Mr. Willis escapes from an exploding airliner by ejecting himself through the pilot's escape hatch. The scene is shot from above, with Mr. Willis being projected toward the screen and screaming in a way that makes it seem like a "Die Hard" parody instead of a solemn action-thriller. The only moment that really sparks an inertia is an unfortunately-trimmed and short sequence involving the hero and villains shooting it out while dodging each other on snowmobiles.
Flooded with too many punch lines and lacking any real excitement on both the visceral and human levels, "Die Hard 2" is unfortunately a very flat sequel. Now the first "Die Hard" was a mindless action movie, but it was mindlessness done right. "Die Hard 2" is mindlessness done wrong.