More action doesn't make a better film

Rating: 7/10 (31 May 2015)

It is Christmas again and for cop John McClane that means dealing with terrorists! While waiting for his wife's flight to arrive at Washington DC's Dulles International Airport he sees a couple of guys behaving suspiciously; follows them and ends up in a firefight that leaves one of them dead. The airport cops say it was probably just punks stealing from the baggage but when McClane checks the dead man's fingerprints he learns that he was supposed to be dead two years previously. It looks as though he was a mercenary and he was clearly up to something it doesn't take long before that something becomes apparent; former army officer Col. Stuart and a group of mercenaries have taken control of air traffic control system and are threatening to start crashing aircraft if their demands aren't met they want foreign drug dealer Gen. Ramon Esperanza handed over to them when the flight bringing him to US custody arrives. It is up to McClane to foil Stuart's plans before his wife's plane runs out of fuel while local authorities are unimpressed by his presence.
The original 'Die Hard' was a taut action thriller with a small group of terrorists, led by a charismatic leader, being confronted by a lone cop of a sealed skyscraper here there are far more bad guys and the action is set in a sprawling airport complex and even though there is more action the story is less exciting. Col. Stuart is lacking the charisma required to be the main villain and with every confrontation McClane survives virtually unscathed it becomes even less believable. The conspiracy to free Gen. Esperanza is too large; we are expected to believe that as well as Stuart's mercenaries there is a squad of US soldiers who are in on it, we must also believe that they have the skills to take over the air traffic control system entirely and that there are no other airports capable of receiving the circling planes! If you can ignore all that there are several exciting moments and some spectacular explosions as well as some amusing moments; mostly involving McClane's wife and sleazy TV journalist Richard Thornburg. The acting is solid enough with Bruce Willis doing what Bruce Willis does as John McClane and the rest of the cast being good enough but not really providing memorable characters. Overall this is entertaining as a mindless action thriller but somewhat disappointing as a Sequel to a great original.