Director Renny Harlin (Cutthroat Island) took the reins of this 1990 sequel, which places Bruce Willis's New York City cop character in harm's way again with a gaggle of terrorists. This time, Willis awaits his wife's arrival at Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C., when he gets wind of a plot to blow up the facility. Noisy, overbearing, and forgettable, the film has none of the purity of its predecessor's simple story; and it makes a huge miscalculation in allowing a terrible tragedy to occur rather than stretch out the tension. Where Die Hard set new precedents in action movies, Die Hard 2 is just an anything-goes spectacle. --Tom Keogh

I watched this DVD over several days while exercising. I would never do this with a movie I hadn't seen before, but with one, like this one, that I've seen several times, just listening while I'm staring at my knees doing crunches or at the floor doing push-ups is enough to refresh my memory... and to keep my mind off the self-torture.

Die Hard 2 is still fun and action-packed, and it still has Bruce Willis, but it follows the Law of Sequels (I just spent some 30 minutes trying to see if anyone's codified this, but all I could find was the quote from Scream 2 about body counts.) --more action and special effects, less believability.

It's Christmas again, and John McClane is again reuniting with his wife, and again terrorists get in the way. This time, it's at an airport, and the terrorists have taken over the communications. They threaten to crash the planes circling overhead, running dangerously low on fuel, unless their demands are met. Then they crash one, to show they're serious.

Their demands concern a Central American general currently arriving to face trial in the U.S. They want him released, and a plane to take him... somewhere--back home, I guess. To this end, they've got a small army of mercenaries who are all willing to kill and/or die, and superior technological skills that they're employing from an abandoned church near the airport.

McClane braves cold and fire and crashing planes, and arrogant airport cops (Dennis Franz) and military personnel, pretty much saving the day on his own, with a little help from a quirky janitor.

There's a little comic relief in Holly's plane, when the obnoxious reporter from the first movie gets wind of the terrorists.

I enjoyed the funny parts, and the action was exciting...and I always enjoy Bruce Willis, but this wasn't nearly as good as its predecessor. I had trouble justifying the means with the motive, and some of it was just downright confusing. I'm still not sure of the point behind the snowmobile chase, other than somebody thought it would be cool. And I kept finding myself asking "but why couldn't they just..." far too often.

This has some great action and good lines. It's a good film and the stunts have some great moments to them. Well worth buying.

This is the second best in the Die Hard series. The Blu Ray edition makes it even more fun at the movies. Check it out for yourself.

Die Hard 2, like so many other sequels, fails to live up to it's predecessor. That said, this is still a successful film. Don't continuously compare to the 1988 film, and you'll probably like it. John McClane is now a minor celebrity for his exploits at the Nakatomi building in Los Angeles. He is at the Dulles international airport in D.C., waiting for Holly's plane to arrive. It just so happens that a disposed Dictator, General Esperansa (Franco Nero) will be arriving at the airport. A group of highly-trained thugs, led by Colonel Stewart (William Sanderson) have plans to see to it that the Dictator is well taken of. Immediately, McClane knows something is up, but the police chief, Lorenzo (Dennis Franz) is an idiot who doesn't seem to appreciate what McClane is doing. Why is it that most police chiefs are incompetent? I wonder how they ever got to where they are. McClane also had to deal with a dumb chief last time ("We're gonna need some more FBI guys, I guess") Although John McTiernan directed the previous film, Renny Harlin stepped as director for this sequel. He is not a great director, but capably handles the material and delivers plenty of what to expect: knock-out action scenes. Returning as McClane, Willis creates a very likable hero and wise-@$$. Sheila McCarthy. playing a news reporter, proves to be very annoying. It's a wonder that McClane didn't shoot her. There's a horrific plane-crash in this film, so I doubt this is the best film to see for those with a fear of flying. Film is a little much at times (Did anybody else hate it when the old-church guy is killed?), but provides entertainment, which is the movie's goal, and it succeeds.

Version: U.S.A / Region-A
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
MPEG-4 AVC BD-50
Running time: 2:03:22
Movie Size: 31,486,593,024 bytes
Disc Size: 41,583,602,636 bytes
Average Video Bit Rate: 28.38 Mbps
DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
DD AC3 2.0 224Kbps

#Audio Commentary
#TV Special: "The Making of Die Hard 2: Die Harder" (SD, 23 minutes)
#Featurette: "Chaos on a Conveyor Belt" (SD, 8 minutes)
#Featurette: "Breaking the Ice" (SD, 4 minutes)
#Promotional Interviews (SD, 12 minutes)
#Deleted Scenes (SD, 6 minutes)
#Theatrical Trailers (HD)