Wrong place. Wrong time. Right man.

Rating: 7/10 (8 January 2011)

'Die Hard 2' was always going to be a disappointment because the original was so good. Having said that, the second installment in the hugely successful franchise is a solid and very entertaining splatter film which contains some outrageously unpleasant moments such as John McClane (Bruce Willis) shoving an icicle through a villain's eyeball and biting off another bad guy's thumb and spitting it out.
It is Christmas Eve again and we find McClane at Dulles International Airport in Washington. He is there to meet his wife, Holly, who is flying in from Los Angeles. A group of mercenaries led by Colonel Stuart (William Sadler) disable the airport's communications and threaten to cause plane crashes should their demands not be granted. And Holly's plane is one of those in danger. The mercenaries are awaiting the arrival of South American drug lord General Ramon Esperanza (Franco Nero), who is being flown in to Dulles in chains. Upon the plane's arrival, they are planning to storm the aircraft, kill anyone who gets in their way, and free Esperanza.
'Die Hard 2' is a thoroughly entertaining action extravaganza. If you can stomach the graphic, brutal violence and the constant profanity, then you are in for a great roller-coaster ride. This is classic spectacle cinema, a crowd pleaser writ large for the popcorn-munching masses. There are plenty of thrilling action set pieces to enjoy: a fight amidst a maze of conveyor belts holding moving luggage, McClane ejecting from a cargo plane cockpit right before said cockpit is blown to smithereens (a conceit which would find its way into the Bond film 'Goldeneye' five years later), and some hand-to-hand combat upon the wing of a moving 747 in the midst of a ferocious snowstorm. There are pyrotechnics galore and some truly spectacular explosions.
Excellent support is offered in the form of Dennis Franz as Captain Carmine Lorenzo, who is head of airport security and who spends his whole time on screen trying to sabotage McClane. Bonnie Bedelia reprises her role of Holly, and William Atherton pops up again as the arrogant and self-important news reporter Richard Thornburg. The film gains enormously from its snowbound setting, and Finnish director Renny Harlin would go on to direct two more similarly successful action films set against snowy backdrops: 'Cliffhanger' and 'The Long Kiss Goodnight'. Both are worth checking out. In 'Die Hard 2' Harlin has crafted a tense and exciting two hours. If you are looking for violent action, you will definitely not be disappointed.