DIE HARD 2 (1990, USA, 124m, 15) ***½
Action, Crime, Thriller
dist. Twentieth Century Fox; pr co. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation / Gordon Company / Silver Pictures; d. Renny Harlin; w. Steven E. de Souza, Doug Richardson (based on the novel “58 Minutes” by Walter Wager); pr. Charles Gordon, Lawrence Gordon, Joel Silver; ph. Oliver Wood (DeLuxe | 2.39:1); m. Michael Kamen; ed. Stuart Baird, Robert A. Ferretti; pd. John Vallone; ad. Christiaan Wagener.
cast: Bruce Willis (John McClane), Bonnie Bedelia (Holly McClane), William Atherton (Thornberg), Reginald VelJohnson (Al Powell), Franco Nero (Esperanza), William Sadler (Stuart), John Amos (Grant), Dennis Franz (Carmine Lorenzo), Art Evans (Barnes), Fred Thompson (Trudeau), Tom Bower (Marvin), Sheila McCarthy (Samantha Coleman), Don Harvey (Garber), Tony Ganios (Baker), Peter Nelson (Thompson), Robert Patrick (O’Reilly), Mick Cunningham (Sheldon), John Leguizamo (Burke), Tom Verica (Kahn), John Costelloe (Cochrane).
In this sequel to DIE HARD, set a year late again at Christmas, L.A, detective John McClane (Willis) is mixed up in another terrorist plot, this time at Washington Dulles International Airport, where he is waiting for his wife (Bedelia). That same night, South American drug lord Ramon Esperanza (Nero) is arriving in U.S. custody and a treasonous ex-colonel (Sadler) seizes control of the airport, threatening to crash every inbound flight unless Esperanza is freed. Like its predecessor, the slam-bang action is non-stop and Willis is once again in top wise-cracking form. Harlin, working from a mechanical script, keeps the pace high and the tension tight and the performers give the material their all. The action scenes are highly destructive and often stretch credibility, but the film is nonetheless very entertaining. Originally titled DIE HARD 2: DIE HARDER. Followed by DIE HARD: WITH A VENGEANCE (1995).
