A spirited rehash. But still a rehash

Rating: 6/10 (3 April 2007)

Die Hard is without a doubt my all time favourite action film. Ever since I first saw it I've loved it. It was a thrilling, pulse pounding adventure crammed with action, suspense and laughs of the highest order. Slickly directed, expertly acted and perfectly paced Die Hard really does stand out as one of the finest action films ever made.
Of course with the success of the original, a sequel was pretty much mandatory. And if any action hero deserves a further saga, its John McClane. Bruce Willis was really the perfect man to play the part. He embodies McClane to such an extent it gets to the point where its not acting anymore. Although a dynamo of action, he's a man with flaws, vulnerabilities and even a family. Not many of them around!
Its a shame then that for Die Hard 2, the writers have simply grafted the same plot as before onto a different setting. Instead of the Nakatomi skyscraper, we have Dulles International Airport in Washington DC. But we still have Christmas. Terrorists. Hostages (including John's wife Holly, spunkily played by the underrated Bonnie Bedelia). News crews. Incompetent thickheaded bureaucrats. And at the centre of it all...John.
Instead of John McTiernan, the man in the directors chair this time around is Renny Harlin. Usually whenever I hear he's at the helm of a film, that's reason enough to start worrying. Harlin produced some of the most brainless films of the 90s. The Long Kiss Goodnight and CutThroat Island are two such guilty offenders. Films that exist for no other reason than to string together increasingly large explosions and bigger and bigger action scenes. And even when he does try something with more emotional depth, he just ends up drowning it out with his trademark explosions. Like Cliffhanger. Still, Deep Blue Sea had its moments. Perhaps because its played for intentional silliness.
Harlin hasn't made a successful film since Cliffhanger. When he was handed the reins to Die Hard 2, his reputation was untarnished. And it was an even bigger hit than the original. Even though it has many of the problems that plague just about every film Harlin gets his hands on.
By using the same basic framework as Die Hard, Harlin puts the only new spin on it. That of a dictator being brought back to America to be prosecuted. But a renegade colonel (William Sadler) in cahoots holds Dulles hostage by hijacking their control tower. Disabling landing lights and ground communications beacons, he makes it impossible for planes to land (ridiculous, because they could establish contact with other airports).
Holly happens to be on one of the planes circling, and McClane must find a way to get control of the airport back. Die Hard 2 is quite efficient. And the two hours do pass by quickly. But it still feels like you've seen it before. Although to the film's credit, it does acknowledge this fact. John asks himself quite a few times how all of this could be happening to him again.
The first half of the film I thought was the best, because its reasonably effective in setting up the events, the characters, and getting John roped into all of this. Even a welcome cameo from Reginald VelJohnson moves the plot along. And there's a stunning sequence where Harlin stages a scarily realistic plane crash at the halfway point.
But in the second half, Harlin begins piling on the explosions, numerous gunfights and fistfights with very little regard for plot. It gets buried so much you sometimes lose track. Harlin keeps trying to outdo himself with increasingly outlandish action sequences. Like when McClane ejects from an exploding jet, the camera fixed in the air, and Bruce Willis heads straight for it until he's almost touching it. Its exhilarating, but a few seconds later reality sinks in and you realise just how absurd the whole stunt was.
There are quite a few characters to keep track of, and sometimes Die Hard 2 feels cluttered. There are some good actors filling out the roles, but it doesn't flow as organically as the original. Even though quite a few are likable. Like Fred Dalton Thompson's head of operations. Or Tom Bower's janitor who proves an invaluable ally to McClane.
Its in the roles of the villains where Die Hard 2 really falls down. The original had the excellent Alan Rickman, who created one of the most memorable villains ever to grace the action film genre, Hans Gruber. A clever, quick witted criminal always one step ahead of everybody else. But here we have William Sadler's anonymous Col Stewart. He's adequate in the part but never brings him to larger than life status the way the role requires. Of the Die Hard trilogy, he's the most forgettable bad guy.
In the air, Bonnie Bedelia does what she can with the limited screen time she's given, and the plot manufactures it so that Thornburg, the slimy reporter from Part 1 happens to be on the same plane. And again he manages to complicate matters because of his blind ambitions. Although the film acknowledges this is all a rehash, this is taking it a step too far.
Still, Bruce Willis brings the same enthusiasm to the film. Quipping away merrily and handling the stunts just as expertly, he's the film's ace in the hole. There are a couple of decent plot twists towards the end, and McClane's solution to their problem is clever (if a bit improbable) but Die Hard 2 still doesn't match up to the superb original. Just remember, there was worse to come from Renny Harlin. In that regard, we should be grateful that Die Hard 2 entertains at all.