Die Hard was and is more than a great film-it's a classic. It's a piece of culture. It's debatably the greatest action film of all time. So, of course, it was going to get a sequel.
And here it is! And what did we get? An attempt to have a redo... a rehash of the original, that lacks most of what made Die Hard so great.
The diminished returns are evident right from the start. See, Die Hard started out by building up to things. We meet John McClain, his lovable driver, Holly, and we are introduced nicely to the core dramatic threads that hold the story together and make it more than JUST a shootemup action flick. By the time we meet the villains and the hostage part of the plot begins to unfold, we're already thoroughly invested.
Not so with this one. Holly is on a plane and her only involvement is that she's stuck there with the same news reporter she punched in the face at the end of the last film. John is at the airport and getting himself involved in a terrorist plot that somehow they've stumbled into. The villain cast here is not bad at all, but mostly mediocre all the same. The fights and shoot outs, while often bolder in terms of blood and number of rounds expended, are somehow less intense and visceral than the best the prior film had to offer.
It lacks all the charm and crafting of the first film, while hoping that if they give us more of the same kind of action, we won't mind. Except that I did. And the action itself lacks the same heart and commitment that the action from the first had.
This is not a bad film, but easily interchangeable with just about any of the other action films of the era. This is itself a Die Hard ripoff: "Die Hard in an Airport, with Actual Die Hard". But even the cast of the original can't add the magic alone that made that eminently clone-worthy classic so special. You could easily skip this one and just go straight from Die Hard (1) to Die Hard with a Vengeance (3) and you wouldn't miss much, if anything. In fact, your overall enjoyment might be enhanced.
And here it is! And what did we get? An attempt to have a redo... a rehash of the original, that lacks most of what made Die Hard so great.
The diminished returns are evident right from the start. See, Die Hard started out by building up to things. We meet John McClain, his lovable driver, Holly, and we are introduced nicely to the core dramatic threads that hold the story together and make it more than JUST a shootemup action flick. By the time we meet the villains and the hostage part of the plot begins to unfold, we're already thoroughly invested.
Not so with this one. Holly is on a plane and her only involvement is that she's stuck there with the same news reporter she punched in the face at the end of the last film. John is at the airport and getting himself involved in a terrorist plot that somehow they've stumbled into. The villain cast here is not bad at all, but mostly mediocre all the same. The fights and shoot outs, while often bolder in terms of blood and number of rounds expended, are somehow less intense and visceral than the best the prior film had to offer.
It lacks all the charm and crafting of the first film, while hoping that if they give us more of the same kind of action, we won't mind. Except that I did. And the action itself lacks the same heart and commitment that the action from the first had.
This is not a bad film, but easily interchangeable with just about any of the other action films of the era. This is itself a Die Hard ripoff: "Die Hard in an Airport, with Actual Die Hard". But even the cast of the original can't add the magic alone that made that eminently clone-worthy classic so special. You could easily skip this one and just go straight from Die Hard (1) to Die Hard with a Vengeance (3) and you wouldn't miss much, if anything. In fact, your overall enjoyment might be enhanced.