Die Hard II Review

In our continuation of exploring the gritty, yippee ki yay lifestyle of John McClane, we come to Die Hard II, often called "Die Harder".

John McClane (Bruce Willis) was only waiting for his wife's plane to come in from L.A. when a group of ex-soldiers/liberators takes hold of air traffic control and threatens to bring down every plane unless a powerful military figure is released from custody. Now it's up to McClane to take on the thugs in his own style, rescue his wife, all the while shouting...doesn't this sound a little too familiar?

Employed into this film are villains with more tech-savvy than the cronies of Hans Gruber in the last film, which will be updated for the movie's fourth installment as well. Colonel Stuart (William Sadler) is a more blunt villain than that of his predecessor, but he lacks colour in his personality. Where he improves however is that as opposed to Mr. Gruber, Stuart can actually take on McClane in a fist fight and not have to put a gun to his head because he has to.

This film has been called Bruce Willis' least favourite, and at first viewing, it's understandable. McClane is not put through as much pain as in the last movie and the plot is very coincidentally similar to that of the first film's "just the wrong place at the wrong time" tone.

The tension in the film is really about a ticking clock, and it goes for a sort of subtle emotional jab at McClane in realizing that the scale is bigger here than just his wife and her office workers. It also shows the action as a bit more basic and at times, a little more clumsy than the Die Hard series is used to. Here, McClane constantly uses gravity to his advantage in his stunts and at times, they even come back to bite him in the rear.

Die Hard II isn't terrible, but the circumstances throughout the movie's duration feel a little pushed to simply being there to try and prove McClane can come back another round. The films do improve along the line, but if you were to pass on this one, I (and maybe even Bruce Willis) wouldn't blame you.