Director: Renny Harlin (Nightmare on Elm St 4, The Long Kiss Goodnight)
Pigeonhole: Action / Big Budget / "Comedy"
Basics: Street smart detective John McClane (Willis) is back for another Christmas full of gunfire, and this time he is taking on a bunch of rogue US military operatives-turned-mercenary, led by Colonel Stuart (Sadler). This time Dulles Airport in Washington, DC is the site of the action. It is race against time to stop the bad guys, and McClane has to protect people on the ground, as well as planes circling in the air.
Recommendation: Plenty of gunfire, explosions, and wise-cracking fuel this sequel. If you like big action blockbusters starring Willis, then you will like this. 'R' rating is for violence and language.
My take: The plot is based on a novel called '58 Minutes' in which a cop has to stop terrorists who have taken over an airport, and he only has 58 minutes until his wife's plane circling overhead, crashes.
**spoiler alert**
John is at Dulles waiting for his wife's plane to land, when he spots and subsequently follows 2 suspects into the baggage area - which quickly turns into a shootout. One of the men is killed while the other escapes. After sending the dead man's fingerprints to his buddy Al (Reginald VelJohnson), they realize the suspect is likely a mercenary, who was former US military. McClane takes his suspicions to Dulles security Captain Lorenzo (Dennis Franz), but is promptly escorted out of his office.
Meanwhile we see the mercenary group cut Dulles' communications and computer driven instruments to guide the planes circling overhead. We discover their ultimate motive is to assist in the escape of General Esperanza, a rich drug lord who is being extradited to the US via this airport. The mercenaries have their own computers set up, and prove to they are "in control", they intentionally crash a plane that was running low on fuel. All seems to be hopeless, once again, but it's Christmas, and John McClane doesn't tolerate terrorists getting in the way of him seeing his wife. After multiple shoot-outs, a couple of hand to hand fights, and a nice big fiery explosion incinerating the bad guys, John wins again.
Why I liked it:
It's brainless fun, and my Y chromosome enjoys the lone-guy-with-a-handgun taking on a whole group of supposedly military trained more athletically built men with automatic weapons and grenades. And winning.
The pace moved very well, and the action was pretty constant.
The supporting cast was strong, I especially liked Sadler, Lorenzo, and Fred Thompson (who played Dulles' Chief of Operations).
What could have been improved:
I did not understand why it had to be Dulles Airport specifically, or basically how they were not able to work in Reginald VelJohnson as a main character again, especially after his great performance in the first film. McClane's immediate allies in this film (specifically Barnes and Marvin) left a little to be desired.
Taking down the terrorists in the first film, felt much more urgent and tense. This time it feels very "ho-hum, here we go again", in my opinion. I have also never been one to harp on the 'suspension of disbelief' factor, especially in a shoot-em-up movie like this - but Willis looked slightly out of shape, and again these are supposed to be military trained bad guys, so even though I praise it for being brainless fun, the "brainless" part is a knock.
I honestly did not see the point of the Richard Thornberg (William Atherton) character again. Remember he was the investigative journalist who stuck his big snout into the McClane's family business and almost got people hurt in #1, which coincidentally he does again. He provided nothing but stupidity and a few comic relief moments, at best.
Final Thoughts: This is still a great action film to see, and sometimes knowing the good guy is going to win out no matter what, makes watching it just that much better.
Die Hard 3, and beyond take the approach that this movie never took place, because John identifies himself early in this film as an LA detective who moved to California but was from New York, which would make sense based on #1 played out. However, Die Hard 3 has us to believe he never moved to LA and his wife still lives out there.
Die Hard 5 is scheduled for a February 2013 release.
My take: The plot is based on a novel called '58 Minutes' in which a cop has to stop terrorists who have taken over an airport, and he only has 58 minutes until his wife's plane circling overhead, crashes.
**spoiler alert**
John is at Dulles waiting for his wife's plane to land, when he spots and subsequently follows 2 suspects into the baggage area - which quickly turns into a shootout. One of the men is killed while the other escapes. After sending the dead man's fingerprints to his buddy Al (Reginald VelJohnson), they realize the suspect is likely a mercenary, who was former US military. McClane takes his suspicions to Dulles security Captain Lorenzo (Dennis Franz), but is promptly escorted out of his office.
Meanwhile we see the mercenary group cut Dulles' communications and computer driven instruments to guide the planes circling overhead. We discover their ultimate motive is to assist in the escape of General Esperanza, a rich drug lord who is being extradited to the US via this airport. The mercenaries have their own computers set up, and prove to they are "in control", they intentionally crash a plane that was running low on fuel. All seems to be hopeless, once again, but it's Christmas, and John McClane doesn't tolerate terrorists getting in the way of him seeing his wife. After multiple shoot-outs, a couple of hand to hand fights, and a nice big fiery explosion incinerating the bad guys, John wins again.
Why I liked it:
It's brainless fun, and my Y chromosome enjoys the lone-guy-with-a-handgun taking on a whole group of supposedly military trained more athletically built men with automatic weapons and grenades. And winning.
The pace moved very well, and the action was pretty constant.
The supporting cast was strong, I especially liked Sadler, Lorenzo, and Fred Thompson (who played Dulles' Chief of Operations).
What could have been improved:
I did not understand why it had to be Dulles Airport specifically, or basically how they were not able to work in Reginald VelJohnson as a main character again, especially after his great performance in the first film. McClane's immediate allies in this film (specifically Barnes and Marvin) left a little to be desired.
Taking down the terrorists in the first film, felt much more urgent and tense. This time it feels very "ho-hum, here we go again", in my opinion. I have also never been one to harp on the 'suspension of disbelief' factor, especially in a shoot-em-up movie like this - but Willis looked slightly out of shape, and again these are supposed to be military trained bad guys, so even though I praise it for being brainless fun, the "brainless" part is a knock.
I honestly did not see the point of the Richard Thornberg (William Atherton) character again. Remember he was the investigative journalist who stuck his big snout into the McClane's family business and almost got people hurt in #1, which coincidentally he does again. He provided nothing but stupidity and a few comic relief moments, at best.
Final Thoughts: This is still a great action film to see, and sometimes knowing the good guy is going to win out no matter what, makes watching it just that much better.
Die Hard 3, and beyond take the approach that this movie never took place, because John identifies himself early in this film as an LA detective who moved to California but was from New York, which would make sense based on #1 played out. However, Die Hard 3 has us to believe he never moved to LA and his wife still lives out there.
Die Hard 5 is scheduled for a February 2013 release.
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