Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990)
Director: Renny Harlin
Cast: Bruce Willis, Bonne Bedelia, William Sadler, and Dennis Franz
Rated: R
Runtime: 124 min.
by Brian Eggert
Reviewed:
6/25/2007
Original Release Date:
7/4/1990
Perhaps rushed, money-minded desire to repeat flawless blockbuster filmmaking spawned the horrid disaster that is Die Hard 2: Die Harder. Even the subtitle "Die Harder" insists creative laziness, pointed out not only to the cheap title, but throughout the script like a fungus. Where its predecessor broke ground by reinventing stereotypes, this sequel takes a step backwards, falling into pre-Die Hard action movie cheese. Rather than vulnerability and desperation to prove his masculinity, John McClane is an invulnerable Schwarzenegger-esque hero for whom broken glass would crush under foot.
Based on Walter Wagner’s novel 58 Minutes, this source material was gutted and refurbished with John McClane as the story’s hero. Die Hard co-writer Steven de Souza and then-first-time screenwriter Doug Richardson filled Wagner’s basic plot with cringe-worthy one-liners and enough bad wisecracks to make Carrot Top look like a comic genius.
Set at Washington D.C.’s Dulles International airport (though filmed in Michigan), McClane once again fights terrorists during Christmas, this time with snowy weather offering nothing by way of an interesting environmental-holiday contrast. The first Die Hard was originally set in Los Angeles, where Christmas means sunny skies and foreign territory for New York cop McClane. And while Die Hard remains one of my favorite Christmas movies, any evident dynamic is removed from its sequel here, making it simply run-of-the-mill.
Action starts almost immediately, as military terrorists begin to infiltrate Dulles for one reason or another. Luckily McClane, who has now submitted to Mrs. McClane (Holly, played by Bonnie Bedelia) and become a L.A. cop, is waiting like a good husband for his wife’s plane to arrive. He catches wind of the terrorist presence. Gunfire battles and a bicycle-assisted tackle ensue.
Implausibility guides the plot, so much so that even McClane picks up on the script’s repetitiveness within the movie! We’re bombarded with winking-at-the-camera lines like this: “Another basement, another elevator. How can the same thing happen to the same guy twice?” I have to ask screenwriters Steven de Souza and Doug Richardson the same question. McClane plays comic relief, doing a mild stand-up routine in between blasting bad guys, pointing out what we already know—the writing is saturated with clichés upon clichés.
Die Hard suggested that Holly, who moved to L.A. for a promotion, has resisted McClane’s masculinity and declared herself independent of him. McClane, throughout the course of the first film, basically sets out to reclaim his control over his wife and family, making peace with both his male and female egos in order to reestablish his relationship with her. Conflict between the married couple is apparent throughout; in Die Hard 2, however, no such conflict exists. McClane has nothing to prove here. Any ground he made achieving his Alpha Male status in the first film is belittled far beneath protector of the pack; he’s also dealing with his mother-in-law’s car and playing the obedient husband—essentially emasculated by whatever new developments that occurred in their marriage between the two movies.
These terrorists are equally uninteresting (at least in comparison to Hans Gruber’s crew), popping up around the airport for who-knows-what reason, just so McClane has someone to kill. One scene, which I am at a loss to explain, involves the terrorist leader, American Colonel Col. Stewart (William Sadler), practicing martial art moves naked in front of the television. Perhaps we’re meant to be in awe of his glistening and tight muscular frame; perhaps it’s foreshadowing to his eventual martial arts use on McClane; perhaps someone just thought it would be cool to incorporate nudist martial arts with the shutting off of a TV.
We never really care about the antagonists’ cause, nor are we certain what the end result would be, should they succeed. And Sadler, while great in supporting roles like in The Shawshank Redemption, lacks Alan Rickman’s charisma; he’s not a villain you love to hate. He’s just annoying. With Gruber, we knew his aim was money, and the film was just as much a countdown for Gruber as it was McClane. With Col. Stuart, who knows what the eventualities are, just so long as his men provide themselves as human punching bags.
Returning are a few familiar faces. McClane has his leg work done by Reginald VelJohnson’s Sgt. Powell, who apparently still likes donuts, but whose appearance is oddly inconsequential (probably why he’s forgotten altogether when Die Hard With a Vengeance comes around). William Atherton returns as arrogant reporter Richard Thornburg, once again to be put out of commission by Holly. Neither of these characters are necessary; had they been deleted from the script, it could have only improved the story, as their awkward placement therein was clearly forced. Even Holly seems anecdotal, as she’s primarily looking out her plane window or making the sign of the cross in hopes that her hubby will save the day.
Rather than getting director John McTiernan back, who was at his peak during the late 1980s/early 1990s, producer Joel Silver (Lethal Weapon, The Matrix) approved Renny Harlin for Die Hard’s sequel. McTiernan was signed on to direct The Hunt for Red October, another success for him; Silver just couldn’t wait until he finished and, while searching for a replacement, found Harlin. At that time, Harlin had just completed A Nightmare of Elm Street 4: The Dream Master. (Why 20th Century Fox thought Harlin capable of handling their blockbuster franchise, based on a Freddy movie, is another unsolvable Hollywood mystery.) Barely completing Die Hard 2 on time, the end product had gone well over-budget and was delivered just scarcely before the film’s release date. Harlin would later go on to direct Die Hard-on-a-mountain, also known as Cliffhanger.
In every way that Die Hard succeeds, Die Hard 2: Die Harder fails. It insults us by suggesting that within two years we might forget how expert an action movie the original was. Relapsing into familiar territory where other franchises might have degenerated to on the third or fourth try, Renny Harlin’s mechanical attempt to recreate what made the first film great clearly misses its point: the original was about reinvention; known action movie archetypes were purposefully avoided. Even reusing elements reinvented by Die Hard becomes gaffe if embraced to their most sickening and unintelligible potential.
More from this series:
Die Hard (1988)
Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995)
Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
