A worthy sequel to a masterpiece.

Rating: 7/10 (16 August 2015)

Die Hard was one of the best action films of the day. So naturally a sequel was to be made to capitalize on the success. What followed was a worthy sequel that was also a success. Die Hard 2 is a bigger movie than it's predecessor. But bigger isn't always better, it lacks some of the suspense that made the original great. While the original took it's time to introduce the characters and set them up before the action begins, this movie jumps into the action very early on. That isn't a bad thing since we know most of the characters already and probably want to see McClane kill bad guys. This movie is very similar to the first Die Hard; John McClane goes somewhere for his wife, terrorists take over, wife becomes a hostage, and John McClane has to stop them. In this movie John McClane is back with his wife, in the original they recently had an argument. You wanted them to get back together, because you wanted John McClane to succeed. Here, it's like he already did.
Although I've had a lot of complaints so far, that doesn't mean I hate this. On the contrary, I like it. The action is still a blast to watch. John McClane has more one liners making this funnier than the original. I said it isn't as intense as the original (it does have a couple of intense scenes though), I stand by that but this is just as fun if not more fun to watch.
A lot of old characters return such as Holly, Al Powell, and Richard Thornburg. There are a couple of new faces like the chief of airport security who plays a similar role to Dwayne Robinson the police chief in the last movie. As the guy who wants to help the hostages, but disagrees with McClane's methods and actively dislikes him.
The new villain Colonel Stuart (William Saddler) is a good villain that is completely without morals and would kill anyone to get his way. Him and his team take control of the airport and hold the planes hostage. He's not as good as Alan Rickman, but he plays his role well. One of the reason's he isn't as good as Hans Gruber is because he and McClane don't have much conversations. By that I mean in the original McClane and Hans had multiple conversations through the radio and argued with each other and teased each other which gave them a good rivalry that was fun to watch. That happens around once or twice in this film. However he is probably the only villain that can fight McClane head on. All the others are more leaders and not soldiers, so if they were to fight McClane they'd lose. But Colonel Stuart does fight McClane at the end for a good and intense fight at the finale on the plane. In fact he pretty much wins the fight.
In short Die Hard 2 is a good follow up to the original that knows what it is and has fun with it and brings the audience along for the ride.