Die Hard 2 (1990) - Movie Review

Of the five Die Hard movies this is my least favorite. Don't get me wrong it is still a great movie. It is the return of one of the best action characters of the second half of the 20th Century... John McClane.

Bruce Willis his role as John McClane, a police detective in the right place at the wrong time. This time he goes up against ex-military mercenaries in an airport. The mercenaries are trying to help in the escape of Ramon Esperanza, a general from the Republic of Val Verde, who is being extradited to the U.S. to stand trial for drug trafficking. McClane is, again, trying to save his wife who is on a plane in the skies above Dulles International Airport.

Again the action starts out slow, but picks up as soon as John McClane gets involved in the action. He runs all over the airport in his quest to save his wife. John is thwarted several times along the way. One poignant scene is of McClane trying to avert a plane crash of a British Airways flight. He makes makeshift torches and runs out on the tarmac to signal to the plane that they are in danger. McClane is unsuccessful as the British Airways flight crashes into the runway killing all aboard. This shows the futility of the situation McClane finds himself in, but he doesn't give up. Quit just isn't in McClane's make-up.

There are three parts of the movie I like the best. The first is when Richard Thornburg (played by William Atherton) is in the lavatory on the same plane as Holly McClane (played by Bonnie Bedelia). Thornburg is in the lavatory on the phone giving an account of the terrorist situation to the news station he works for; Holly uses the tazer of the lady next to her and breaks into the lavatory where she zaps Thornburg.

The next favorite scene is when McClane is trying to save the British Airways flight.

My third favorite scene is when McClane figures out a specific piece of information and brings it to the attention of Captain Carmine Lorenzo (played by Dennis Franz), of the Dulles Airport Police Department. Lorenzo, in his inexhaustible fashion, doesn't believe McClane. McClane takes his evidence, a machine gun, and proceeds to empty the clip at Lorenzo. The bullets in the machine gun are blanks.

Even though this is not one of my favorite Die Hard movies I still rate it an 8 out of 10 stars.