Die Hard 2 (1990)
The Cast
Bruce Willis .... John McClane
Bonnie Bedelia .... Holly McClane
William Atherton .... Richard Thornburg
William Sadler .... Col. Stuart
Reginald VelJohnson .... Sgt. Al Powell
Franco Nero .... Gen. Ramon Esperanza
John Amos .... Maj. Grant
Dennis Franz .... Capt. Carmine Lorenzo
Art Evans .... Leslie Barnes
Fred Dalton Thompson .... Trudeau
Sheila McCarthy .... Samantha Coleman
Robert Patrick .... O'Reilly
John Leguizamo .... Burke
Vondie Curtis-Hall .... Miller
Colm Meaney .... Pilot
I was going to start this review by mentioning the terribly cheesy script of DH2, & how it was probably the worst aspect of this sequel. Then I read on IMDB in the Trivia section for DH2 that: In the original Die Hard, John McClane only had a few scripted one-liners. However, Bruce Willis ad-libbed so many one liners and audiences liked them so much that in this sequel, more gags were added & Willis was told he could ad-lib as many more as he saw fit. Willis' delivery of "Just the fax ma'am," pretty much confirms that little bit o' trivia for me. Oddly enough, he didn't get a writing credit.
Also, director Renny Harlin was apparently editing this movie & The Adventures of Ford Fairlane at the same time. I think that says all we have to about Renny Harlin. Personally, from reading the afforementioned trivia page, I'm surprised that DH2 didn't turn out to be a complete wreck of a movie. It's a Christmas miracle is what it was.. is.. will forever be. Whatever.
Basically the events of the previous Die Hard movie are repeated, except instead of Nakatomi Plaze in L.A., it's an airport in Washington D.C., another Christmas Eve, two years later. If this sequel was never made (or was never successful) perhaps we'd never have to hear the high concept movie formula "It's Die Hard except in/on a _____." However, it was made, so now we have a steady stream of inferior pretenders to the throne every year.
There's a wealth of soon-to-be recognizable actors in this movie, mostly as members of the coldly evil Col. Stuart's (the fantastic William Sadler) squadron. Some of the main cast from the original show up in cameo parts, which was awfully nice of Harlin to do, but completely unnecessary. Bonnie Bedelia somehow harnessed a MILF-vibe to her in this one though. Perhaps it's because of how sassy she was, I don't know.
If you've seen the original, you've seen this movie. It's not like the third one where they kinda change up the formula a bit. It's almost the exact same movie as the original, 'cept with a less charismatic main villain (sorry Sadler, but you're no Alan Rickman), a less surprising storyline (though they do try), & a general rushed feeling to the quality of it all. It's still an entertaining ride, but probably my least favourite of the Die Hard Franchise. It rates lower than the original as a Christmas movie because it's just following the formula, & many of the plot details don't make sense if you take into account the fact that it's Christmas Eve. 1.5 outta 5 as a Christmas Movie.
Regular rating: 3.5 outta 5.