top action with great humour

Rating: 8/10 (30 January 1999)

This is one of the best action films I've seen. Just as with the original Die Hard, the action is intense and unrelenting. I think this sequel tops Die Hard, already a great action movie, by taking some of the elements of the original and improving on them further. Jeremy Irons, as villain, is even more eccentric and evil than the villain in the original (played effectively by Alan Rickman). The introduction of Samuel L Jackson to help Bruce Willis fight the baddies, provides continuous humour, as Jackson protests his involvement in the first place, and argues with Willis over who's being racist and how to solve the latest intellectual puzzle given to them by Irons. The New York City setting provides great stereo-typed characters, such as the "callous Wall Streeters" eating popcorn and watching a disaster unfold outside their office window, and the dump truck driver who provides Willis with a tour guide's commentary of the underground water system and its history, in the middle of all the panic and mayhem. All in all, top action and great humour!