McClane Returns

Rating: 10/10 (24 November 2010)

Bruce Willis returns as the iconic action hero John McClane in "Die Hard 2" and instead of fighting terrorists in a building in Los Angeles he fights another terrorists (former military men), and this time they invaded Dulles Airport in Washington and they want to take control of everything. Here comes lots of action, shots, incredible scenes and some humor as usual in Die Hard series.
In this new adventure McClane is at the airport waiting for his wife return from a business trip when he notices strange happenings and some unusual movement in the place. He finds out that a military named Colonel Stewart (William Sadler) took control of the airport, at distance, controlling all the planes that are going to land including the plane that carries an important General (Franco Nero) who's about to be rescued by Stewart's group.
In the middle of all this there's the chaos at the airport, flight controllers panicking, the chief of police (Dennis Franz) complaining of McClane actions on the airport and the dangerous tactics used by Stewart in order to get all he wants. And there's McClane's wife (Bonnie Bedelia) on board of one of the planes trying to land in Washington, and she has to deal once again with the arrogant reporter Thornburg (William Atherton).
As an action film the movie goes very well compared to many action flicks that emerged in the past 20 years. In comparison with the other films of the series this is my least favorite because of the excessive drama, it takes too long to really have a decent action moment, and some viewers might get confused in some parts. On the technical aspects I disliked the dark cinematography with overused red lightning, it's almost impossible to see things here. But it's a very thrilling picture, with many inspired and original scenes (McClane escaping of the plane filled with grenades by pushing the eject button of the pilot seat).
Actors performances are very good, Willis is a great action figure playing McClane, Art Evans has the coolest character in the film, and Bonnie Bedelia is even better than in the first film.
The great aspect of this film is the inclusion of many references about the excellent 1988 film directed by John McTiernan, and brought back some of the characters too. I think many people were disappointed that he couldn't direct this one (he was offered the job but he was already filming "The Hunt for Red October") but Renny Harlin made a great job here, way better than the ones he's directing lately. 10/10