Die Hard 2 **** (1990, Bruce Willis, William Atherton, Bonnie Bedelia, William Sadler) – Classic Movie Review 1682

Bruce Willis makes a very welcome return as New York cop John McClane for a second scoop of blockbuster action. And this time his mission is to thwart a military operation by rogue military officials to grab a Central American dictator by seizing control of the busy Dulles International Airport in Washington D.C. at New Year’s Eve.

If they don’t get what they want, the mercenaries who have taken over the airport are threatening to make all the incoming planes crash. Once again, McClane’s wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) in trouble as she’s on one of the plane so McClane, mystified that lightning can strike twice, has to get back into action in this rehash of the first film with but bigger stunts and a bigger budget.

As in the 1988 original, director Renny Harlin’s stupendous 1990 sequel is two hours plus of thrilling, non-stop action, with awesome fights, chases and stunts, led by a cheeky, crowd-pleasing performance by Willis, swathed once more in his famous dirty T-shirt and cheery bravado.

Bonnie Bedelia as McClane’s formerly estranged wife-in-peril Holly Gennaro McClane, William Atherton as heartless reporter Richard Thornburg, and Reginald VelJohnson as nice car-patrol cop Sergeant Al Powell all reappear from the original too, and there’s an impressive roster of villains, especially William Sadler as Colonel Stuart, the leader of the team of terrorists holding the entire airport hostage in their bold bid to rescue a drug lord from justice.

So this time it’s less Die Hard 2 than Airport meets James Bond. Apart from a few foolishly preposterous moments and some unpleasant acts of nasty violence, this is unbeatable action entertainment. Harlin makes an excellent job of picking up the helmer reins from original director John McTiernan, who returned for part III. Steven E De Souza and Doug Richardson’s effective and lively screenplay is taken from the novel 58 Minutes by Walter Wager.

The terrible censored TV version is edited for its strong language and much of the brutal violence. The swearing is redubbed badly, with the voice redubbing Willis sounding nothing like him. The American TV version changes the famous ‘Yippee-kay-aye, motherf**ker!’ into ‘Yippee-kay-aye, Mr Falcon!’ – which only makes some contrived sense because the dialogue with the soldiers in the plane is also changed so that one of the soldiers calls one of the two main bad guys ‘Mr Falcon’. The UK cinema and pan-and-scan video versions are both cut for a 15 certificate. These cuts to reduce violence and strong language are restored in the 18-rated widescreen video and laserdisc.

Three more sequels have followed so far: Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), Live Free or Die Hard (2007) and A Good Day to Die Hard (2013).

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1682

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