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Die Hard 2: Die Harder
review by David G.
Rated R
Running Time: 124 Minutes
Starring: Bruce Willis, William Sadler, Bonnie
Bedelia
Screenplay by Steven E. de Souza and Doug Richardson
Based on the novel "58 minutes" by Walter Wager
Directed by Renny Harlin
Retail Price: 29.98
Studio: Fox
Specs: 2.35:1 Non-Anamorphic Widescreen, 5.1 Dolby
Digital English, English Dolby Surround, French Dolby
Surround, English Subtitles, Spanish subtitles, Chapter
Search, THX Certified
John McClane (Bruce Willis) is back as the wrong man in
the wrong place at the wrong time. In this Die Hard, the
story takes place in Dulles Washington Airport during
Christmas Eve when a plane transporting the extradited drug
lord Esperenza (Franco Nero) is about to land. At this
moment, a group of terrorists lead by Colonel Stuart
(William Sadler) takes control of the airport cutting all
its communications with planes. His aim is to free Esperenza
with the threat to crash all planes and among them there is
the plane of McClane's wife. Obviously, McClane will be,
once again, the last chance of the hostages.
It was logical to do a sequel to "Die Hard", this one
bringing a lot of cash to 20th Century Fox. It is now Renny
Harlin who directs Bruce Willis as John McClane. This guy
gave us "Long Kiss Goodnight" for the best and "Cutthroat
Island" or "Deep Blue Sea" for the worst. Of course, Renny
Harlin is not John McTiernan and we can observe this fact in
Die Hard 2 but I have to say that if he didn't manage to
make a movie with the quality of the first Die Hard, this
one manages to entertain us with many action scenes, many
gunfights and explosions although the action sequences are
strongly inspired by John Woo's movies especially the
wonderful "The Killer", and when I say inspiration, I could
say sometime plagiarism (see the getaway before the antenna
explode). As I say earlier, if you forget the obvious
default, the movie hit its aim to entertain us during 2
hours without boring us: this is rare enough nowadays to
steer clear of our pleasure.
The movie is presented in a widescreen 2.35:1 format, and
the transfer is good even in the darkest sequences or in the
control tower where black, red, green, purple are mixed
often in one shot. Good work here.
The soundtracks seem to have more panache than for the
first Die Hard, the multiple gunfights and explosions are
well enveloping by the subwoofer. The surround speakers
provides multiple efficient effects.
As for the first Die Hard, extras are not full stock
here. Once again : a trailer for each Die Hard movie, a
slide show, a useless featurette and some cast informations.
In a word, if you buy this DVD, it will not be for the
extras!
A movie largely below the first Die Hard but rhythmic
enough to enjoy the audience.
 (3/5, NOT included in
final score)
(3/5)
 (4/5)
 (2/5)
 (3.5/5, NOT an average)
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