20 Reasons Why You Rock: Die Hard 2
The action movie genre has no shortage of Die Hard clones. After all, if something works Hollywood will copy it. But I think it is fitting that the greatest Die Hard clone of them all is a direct descendent of the 1988 original, Die Hard 2. Not only is Die Hard 2 the greatest Die Hard clone in my estimation, it is also one of the rare sequels that is as great as the original. But Die Hard 2 isn’t just great… Die Hard 2 ROCKS!!!
#1. Bruce Willis is back reprising the role of John McClane from the 1988 original and it isn’t long before we find out that the “same shit can happen to the same guy twice”. McClane is in the wrong place at the wrong time once again… this time to pick up his wife Holly at the airport so they can spend Christmas with her family. McClane shines once again with his displays of courage, quick wit and even quicker thinking allowing him to survive some precarious situations (like being in a cockpit full of grenades). An argument could be made that John McClane is the greatest “everyman hero” in action movie history.
#2. Director Renny Harlin had big shoes to fill following action maestro John McTiernan and he more than lived up to that challenge. Harlin captured what made Die Hard so great and expanded upon it in spectacular fashion. Harlin proved himself as a big budget action director with Die Hard 2 and it is no surprise that his action output continued in the years that followed.
#3. While his appearance is brief, getting Reginald VelJohnson’s Twinkie loving Al Powell back for the sequel was quite the coup. When the airport police at Dulles International are of no help to John, he turns to his LAPD buddy Al Powell for help and Al does not disappoint. This was the perfect use of the Powell character since VelJohnson was busy with the series Family Matters and it made sense too since John was in Washington DC spending the holidays with his wife’s family and not in Los Angeles.
#4. William Sadler’s traitorous Colonel William Stuart has one of the most unique introductions of any action movie villain in history. When we first see Stuart he is in his hotel room doing naked Tai Chi. That’s attention grabbing to say the least.
#5. Later Stuart proves how sadistic he is once he and his team take over Dulles International Airport and Stuart impersonating the tower causes a horrific plane crash that kills everyone on board (including the pilot played by Colm Meaney) as a way to send a message that he means business. It was at that moment where Stuart proved to me he was an even bigger villain than Hans Gruber.
#6. Sadler does not have to carry the villainy in Die Hard 2 all on his own. He has an army of mercenaries at his disposal that includes a number of familiar faces like John Leguizamo, Mark Boone Junior, Vondie Curtis-Hall and a pre-T2 Robert Patrick!
#7. We can’t forget Colonel Stuart’s partner in crime, dictator/drug lord General Ramon Esperanza of Val Verde. Esperanza, played by the great Franco Nero. Esperanza is literally what’s causing all this. Stuart’s entire plan to take over Dulles International Airport is to make sure his boy Esperanza does not become the first major casualty in the United States’ war on drugs! Die Hard 2 was my first exposure to the work of Franco Nero, imagine my surprise when I then went back a few years in Nero’s filmography and watched him in Enter the Ninja.
#8. I have to imagine that every action fan living in Tennessee voted for Fred Dalton Thompson for United States Senate based solely on Fred’s performance as Air Traffic Flight Director Ed Trudeau.
#9. My pick for the most unsung hero of Die Hard 2 is Chief Engineer Barnes, played by Art Evans. Barnes goes right into the lion’s den on more than one occasion and the only thing that exceeds his bravery is his know how… Barnes manages to come up with a solution to communicating with the planes stuck in Dulles airspace without Stuart knowing about it.
#10. I can’t leave out Marvin played by Tom Bower. Marv is instrumental in helping John McClane navigate his way around Dulles International Airport, he also ends up getting McClane a working radio so he can listen in and communicate with Stuart and later, Marv takes on the Argyle role, giving the McClanes a lift at the end of the movie.
#11. Was there anyone born to play a cop more than Dennis Franz? Franz plays Captain Carmine Lorenzo, the top cop at Dulles. A territorial Lorenzo butts heads with John McClane for most of the movie, which just encourages McClane to go in cowboy mode.
#12. While I am asking questions, was there anyone born to play an asshole more than William Atherton? If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times, Atherton should seriously consider changing his name to William Assholton. Atherton reprises the role of reporter Dick Thornburg. Once again the pompous Dick finds himself in the position to break a major story, all in the name of raising his own stock and landing himself a network gig. And once again Dick’s reporting does more harm than good as he basically incites a riot at Dulles International Airport.
#13. As luck would have it, Dick Thornburg is on the same flight from Los Angeles to Washington DC that Holly McClane (Bonnie Bedelia) is on. This is where we find out after the events of the first movie, that Thornburg filed a restraining order against Holly… this makes Holly popular with the flight attendants, who have had enough of Dick’s shit. One of the many highlights of the movie is when Holly uses a stun gun on Dick, who was filing his panic inducing report from the lavatory of the plane. To a nicer guy it couldn’t happen…
#14. The U.S. Special Forces, led by Major Grant (John Amos), are called in to help takedown Stuart, Esperanza and the mercenaries. This sets up the movie’s big swerve… as it turns out Grant and his team are in cahoots with Stuart and Esperanza! I love a good twist.
#15. McClane proving to Lorenzo that Major Grant is working with Stuart is one of my favorite scenes in the movie… with McClane opening fire on Lorenzo, using the very same blank filled rifles that Grant’s team were using in their firefight with Stuart and company. A fired up Carmine Lorenzo is now ready to mobilize his men and kick some ass (just like Iwo Jima!).
#16. Reporter Samantha Coleman and her news team also give McClane a huge helping hand… McClane has the news chopper get him above the wing of the getaway plane carrying the villains to an island paradise. Proving not all reporters are assholes like Dick Thornburg. McClane jumps from the chopper to the wing of the plane which sets up …
#17. Once he’s on the wing, McClane not only has to deal with Major Grant (who arguably has the most epic death in the movie) but we finally get McClane vs. Stuart. The best part is Stuart thinks he has won… but when John fell from the moving plane he pulled the fuel release and jet fuel begins pouring out of the plane and that sets up one of the greatest finales in action movie history…
#18.That moment when the bad guys think they are about to get away is one of my favorite moments in the entire movie. It is like one of those seconds before disaster memes as the mercenaries are lighting cigars and having drinks and then John McClane sets the trail of airplane fuel on fire and it is all she wrote! The fire then serves as landing lights for all the planes that desperately needed to land. Allowing for another emotional reunion for John and Holly McClane.
#19. The icing on the cake for the action packed finale is Jean Sibelius’ “Finlandia” as it perfectly punctuates good triumphing over evil with the fanfare it deserves. And speaking of music…
#20. Christmas is a holiday rich with traditions. So it only makes sense that Die Hard 2 continues the Die Hard Christmas tradition of wrapping up with the Vaughn Monroe version of “Let it Snow” as the movie wraps up..
