Die Hard 2
Director: Renny Harlin
Writer: Steven E. de Souza, Doug Richardson
Based on: Walter Wager‘s novel 58 Minutes
Sequel to: Die Hard
Cast: Bruce Willis, William Sadler, John Amos, Dennis Franz, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson, William Atherton, Robert Patrick, Franco Nero
Plot:
John McClane (Bruce Willis) travelled to DC with his kids to visit his in-laws for Christmas. His wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) is on the plane and on her way to join them, so John is waiting at the airport to pick her up. Also en route to the airport in DC is General Esperanza (Franco Nero), a drug lord being extradited to the US. As Holly’s plane is delayed, John stumbles upon a plan by Colonel Stuart (William Sadler) to free Esperanza and tries to stop them.
Die Hard 2 is not a bad sequel, but I didn’t think it was as good as the first one. And as the first one already left me pretty cold, this one didn’t do much for me either.
The action was fine in this one. There were actually some brilliant moments – I especially liked the ejector seat scene. And again the dialogues and the sense of humor was pretty funny.
The cast continues to be good. Bruce Willis is great, and Franco Nero has a perfectly charismatic presence that I would have liked to get more of.
But I just didn’t get into the film that much. I’m honestly not sure why I didn’t. The movie does have all the right ingredients to be pretty awesome, just like the first one. In fact, they are very much in the same spirit and that definitely makes Die Hard 2 a good sequel. And they even gave Holly something to do, even if it is fighting against an entirely cartoonish character.
Maybe I just have to accept that Die Hard and me isn’t working out, as much as I would like it.
Summarising: Alright.
kalafudra's Stuff 
[…] Just as my life, this blog is mostly popculture with some feminist rants « Die Hard 2 (1990) […]
[…] Writer: Mark Bomback Based on: John Carlin‘s article A Farewell to Arms Sequel to: Die Hard, Die Hard 2, Die Hard: With a Vengeance Cast: Bruce Willis, Timothy Olyphant, Justin Long, Maggie Q, Cliff […]
[…] Good Day to Die Hard Director: John Moore Writer: Skip Woods Sequel to: Die Hard, Die Hard 2, Die Hard: With a Vengeance, Live Free or Die Hard Cast: Bruce Willis, Jai Courtney, Sebastian […]
Yeah, Die Hard 2 doesn’t hold a candle to the first one. It’s an unimaginative rehash that simply copies the original with as many elements and characters present as possible (the amount of characters that came back for this one really feels forced and implausible) in hopes to recapture the same magic. However, it feels incredibly stale. There still are a couple of great scenes and memorable moments, but overall, I never really cared for it that much.
I also have to say that in the five months since I saw the film, I practically forgot all about it. At least the first one is still sticking around in my head. :)