"I went to LA once... hated it." Great sequel but not as good as the original.

Rating: 8/10 (20 December 2007)

Die Hard 2 starts on Christmas Eve & is set at Dulles International Airport in Washington D.C. where Los Angeles cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) is waiting for the plane his wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) is on to land so they can spend Christmas together with her parents. However all is not well as Colonel Stuart (William Adler) & a highly trained team of mercenaries have taken complete control of the airport & all of it's functions, they turn the runway lights off so the planes above can't land & also disable the communication between the control tower & the plane's. A plane carrying a drug warlord named General Esperanza (Franco Nero) is due to land so he can stand trial, Colonel Stuart wants to free him but as several plane's above start to run out of fuel can McClane save the day & figure out a way to land them safely?
Directed by Renny Harlin this is a fine action packed sequel to the original Die Hard (1988) although one has to say it's clearly not as good although with such a brilliant film to better it was never likely to. The script by Steven E. de Souza & Doug Richardson was based on the novel '58 Minutes' by Walter Wager & again sees LA cop John McClane fighting bad guy's at Christmas, for what it is Die Hard 2 is a great big budget Hollywood action packed blockbuster that's well worth a watch if your a 90's action fan. The character's are good although I still don't like McClane's wife Holly or that stupid reporter Richard Thornburg, particularly memorable are Dennis Franz's foul mouthed highly strung airport security chief Carmine & the no nonsense Major Grant. I also really liked the twist towards the end of the film as well & I must admit I didn't see it coming, other than that the plot is pretty straight forward, maybe a bit predictable yet easy to follow. The film is slow going at times & feels quite long but I'd never say it was boring with the constant race against time scenario McClane finds himself in, there's enough shoot-outs, violence, fights, chases & explosions to satisfy most & overall it's a great film. The chances of McClane finding himself in another situation like the original Die Hard does stretch the credibility somewhat but what the hell, it's only a film right?
Director Harlin does alright, the action scenes are good but maybe not as good or as exciting as the original or some other big budget action films of the period. I doubt a film like Dir Hard 2 would be made today, almost certainly not by a major Hollywood studio with plane's full of passengers being deliberately crashed, terrorists hijacking an entire airport & holding all the plane's with passengers on them to ransom. Apparently barely completed before it was released Die Hard 2 had a huge budget which it went over by a considerable amount, rumour has it at one point Die Hard 2 was costing 20th Century Fox an extra $20,000 every minute of every day it was being shot. There are some good set-pieces here, the scene when McClane escapes the plane that gets blown up by hand-grenades is maybe the most memorable. There's plenty of violence too with icicles stuck in people's eyes, there's plenty of bloody gunshot wounds along with a nasty & very gory slashed throat.
With a supposed budget of about $70,000,000 this had a mega budget, it's well made for sure with great production values & you would never guess that the snow is fake. A couple of airports were used for filming locations including Los Angeles International & Stapleton Airport in Denver in Colorado, was originally set to be filmed in Minnesota but there was no snow that year so it was changed. Despite being paid a nice $7,500,000 Bruce Willis has said in a few interviews that he doesn't think too much of Die Hard 2 which is odd because he's been in lots worse films that's for sure, the acting is alright but that bloody Bonnie Bedelia just irritates me for some reason whenever she's on screen.
Die Hard 2 is a great sequel to a even greater original that can stand on it's own as a top action packed thriller, at least it isn't a total turkey like a lot of sequels turn out to be. I definitely liked it & would certainly recommend it. Followed by Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) & the more recent Live Free or Die Hard (2007) both of which are well worth watching as well.