Die Hard 2 Dies Harder, But is That a Good Thing?

Die Hard 2: Die Harder review.

Making a sequel to Die Hard is a tall order. I mean what are the odds that off-duty police officer John McClain is going to run into terrorists twice in his life? Well they didn't go with the obvious and come back for revenge in Die Hard 2, instead he runs into all new terrorists, coincidentally also at Christmastime. But the coincidences don't stop there. Again his wife Holly is in danger as the terrorists have disabled the airport where her flight is supposed to land, and guess who else happens to be on the flight? Richard Thornberg, the pain in the ass reporter from Die Hard 1.

O.K., so let's forget about all that and just try to go with it. The movie pokes fun at itself a bunch for the incredible coincidences. But there's another problem here - the characters makes a bunch of leaps in time and knowledge for plot expediency. For example, at one point McClain and an ally discover that the bad guys are holed up in a neighborhood adjacent to the airport. The whole film involves a deadline because planes are circling the disabled airport and running out of fuel. Somehow seconds later McClain and friend have searched 12 houses and narrowed down the place the bad guys are holed up - by themselves. They phone the airport tower and the police captain there doesn't say anything about who he's talking to or what about, but the army major who's in charge automatically knows and takes the address from his hand. Seconds later the soldiers who were in camouflage fatigues, are now in winter gear and on their way. I could go on, but you get the idea.

There are also, of course the usual physics-defying stuff, but thankfully most of it is believable... until the final end of the bad guys which really stretches credibility.

All of this may sound like Die Hard 2 is a terrible movie. It's not. In fact by early 90s action movie standards, it's actually pretty good. All the believe-ability issues are with the situation, not with the actual conflict. This is probably because rather than write a made-for-Die-Hard screenplay, they adapted an existing thriller novel, 58 Minutes, for the screenplay.

Die Hard was a truly unique action movie, and in some ways almost 30 years later it has yet to be equaled, so we have to cut any potential sequel some slack. But if you just want an escapist shoot-em-up with some characters you already know and love, Die Hard 2 fits the bill. And c'mon, how many Christmases in a row can you just watch the original Die Hard? Maybe Die Hard 2 deserves an occasional holiday viewing too.