Die Hard 2 (1990)

Die Hard 2

Release Date: July 4, 1990

Director: Renny Harlin

Stars: Bruce Willis, William Atherton, Bonnie Bedelia

Runtime: 124 min

Bruce Willis is back in his iconic role of John McLane, and this time he’s up against a bigger threat with more lives in jeopardy.

After the terrifying events in LA, John McClane (Willis) is about to go through it all again. A team of terrorists, led by Col. Stuart (Sadler) is holding the entire airport hostage. The terrorists are planning to rescue a drug lord from justice. In order to do so, they have seized control of all electrical equipment affecting all planes. With no runway lights available, all aircraft have to remain in the air, with fuel running low, McClane will need to be fast.

Die Hard 2 is one of the finest sequels of the franchise, and a seriously awesome action sequel. The formula for sequel greatness is all there, and the way that McLane comments on how it is all happening again is quite refreshing. It’s a hilarious commentary and hardly a tedious one, unlike in other sequels like The Hangover Part II when the guys comment that it’s all happening again. I mean, we’d forgive that if that film would have turned out to be actually good.

John McLane partners up with, instead of Powell and Argyle in its predecessor, he teams up with a funny janitor, among others. The janitor doesn’t have a lot of screen time, but he nonetheless leaves an impression on us.

There’s a sort-of emotional layer of surprise at one point in the film, when a plane crashes. But it soon goes back to its fun and suspenseful ways. Out of all the Die Hard situations, I think I’d hate being in this situation the most… Think about it, how scary would it be being up in a plane for however long, running out of fuel. Especially one is afraid of flying, which I am. And they don’t they’re in danger, but when they approach the ground – they sure do. It’d just be terrifying to be up there, especially when the criminals are incognito.

In a nutshell: The first Die Hard sequel brings the laughs, fine one-liners a short battle between McLane and Robert “T-1000” Patrick. It also amps up the action and the explosions. And at least after this one, McLane will finally have a normal Christmas without having to crawl in any air vents.

92/100