1990 saw director Renny Harlin bring us the second instalment in the Die Hard series, Die Hard 2 (or Die Harder).
In this one John McClane (Bruce Willis) must save an airport in Washington DC from another group of terrorists. But when the airport staff refuse John’s help, he realises he must do things himself. Meanwhile, in the skies above, 18 planes are waiting to land… and they’re all slowly running out of fuel. Just another Christmas for John McClane then.
I loved the storyline in this one. It was more structured, if a bit over the top in places. But that’s what the Die Hard series are all about: being over the top. The special effects are brilliant also and so is the acting, once again making the characters believable to the point where you don’t know who the traitors are!
Some particularly good moments and scenes to watch out for are the guy getting stuck in the machinery in the airport’s back room where all the luggage goes… oww; the scaffolding landing right on a guy… again ouch; the plane crash landing with a huge explosion of epic proportions ensuing; John nearly getting run over by a landing plane… he really is a hard man to kill; John ejecting himself from the cockpit… as it blows up; John stabbing a guy through the eye… with an icicle; a guy going through the plane’s engine turbine… eww; and finally John successfully blowing up the terrorists’ plane.
And my favourite quotes from the film are:
- ‘Another basement, another elevator. How can the same thing happen to the same guy twice?’ – John
- ‘We are just up to our asses in terrorist again, John.’ – John
- ‘You give me this story and I’ll have your baby.’ – Sam (Sheila McCarthy) ‘Not the kind of ride I’m looking for.’ – John
With the increase of craziness in this film from the first one it’s no wonder why the Die Hard series is so popular.
So that is why I give this film an 8.5 out of 10.
Reviewer's Digest 