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| Bruce Willis needs to step up to a terrorist challenge once again, in Renny Harlin's Die Hard 2 |
QUICK REVIEW:
Two years after the explosive attack in Los Angeles, NYPD cop John McClane is going to Washington Dulles International Airport to pick up his wife Holly on Christmas Eve. But a band of mean terrorists have other plans!
Die Hard 2 is the effective sequel to the 1988 hit. It has a variegated story; we don't have the claustrophobia-inducing tower of the first film, but apart from this, not much has changed fundamentally. The script, by Doug Richardson (Bad Boys (1995)) and Steven E. de Souza (Die Hard (1988)), is based on the novel 58 Minutes (1987) by Walter Wager (Death Hits the Jackpot (1954)).
William Sadler (Iron Man 3 (2013)) plays the villain, and he isn't quite as slithering and unpleasant as Alan Rickman in the original. The almost non-stop shooting spree also becomes a little much at some point.
But apart from these minor inferences, Die Hard 2 is a neat action movie. - Bruce Willis (The Sixth Sense (1999)) is again enthusiastic and a good hero, and Dennis Franz (NYPD Blue (1993-05)) is good as the bureaucrat.
The film is directed by the often dubious Finnish action director Renny Harlin (The Legend of Hercules (2014)).
Related reviews:
Top 10: The best action movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
A Good Day to Die Hard (2013) - Willis' action franchise dies an ugly death
Live Free or Die Hard/Die Hard 4.0 (2007) - The beloved action franchise revitalized for the new millennium
Die Hard (1988) - McTiernan's action masterpiece
Renny Harlin: Cleaner (2008) or, Suit-Wearing Papa Cleaner-Man!
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| William Sadler makes a good, stern-faced villain, if not quite a match to the previous film's Hans Gruber, in Renny Harlin's Die Hard 2 |
Watch the original trailer here
Cost: 70 mil. $
Box office: 240 mil. $
= Box office success
[Die Hard 2 made 100 mil. $ more than its predecessor, but its budget was also more than doubled. It made 117 mil. $ in the US (49 % of the total gross).]
What do you think of Die Hard 2?
Thoughts on Harlin's movies?
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