11-05-2020, 04:01 PM
Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990)
I've always loved 'Die Hard 2: Die Harder' and not just for the tongue-in-cheek flair of the subtitle. I'm not saying it's better than the first near-perfect classic but it's close enough that I really have to think about it. I probably watched this more than the original when I was a teen, perhaps because it just seemed to be on TV at Christmas more. Double the budget gives a bigger scale, larger canvas, higher stakes, wall-to-wall action, blockbuster FX and glossier cinematography. Okay the script is a pretty obvious rehash of the first film, rushed out within a year of 'Die Hard' but it's one of those cases where if this was the only 'Die Hard', people would hail it as a masterpiece of the action genre and not dismiss it as an imitation (which it is). It's actually got the chutzpah to wink at the audience with the "How can the same sh*t happen to the same guy twice!?" line. This time I was appreciating how "Hong Kong" the action scenes looked and sounded. Especially the "annex skywalk" sequence with squibs and bodies flying everywhere, 10 bullets when 1 would've done and McClaine doing those 'The Killer' type moves. I also hadn't noticed the 'Jaws' vibe to the plot, with Dennis Franz's airport police chief Lorenzo as "the mayor of shark city" to McClane's 'Brody'. Although he's more likeable because you can sympathise with all the provocation McClane throws at him and he does have the guts to admit he's wrong in the end. All the characters are equally well defined (or cliched but in a good way), the plucky young reporter, the stern control tower boss, the kooky janitor and the sassy stewardess. Tweaked a bit more and they'd be into 'Airplane!'s "Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue" territory. The best support and comic relief comes from the sparring between William Atherton's amoral reporter and Bonnie Bedelia's Holly.
The villains aren't on anywhere near the same level, writing and acting wise, as Alan Rickman's 'Hans Gruber' but they make up for that in the greater threat posed. One example being the story beat where Gruber shoots 'Mr.Takagi', is replaced here with William Sadler deliberately murdering a plane full of delightfully British families arriving for Christmas, just to prove a point. Gruber's gang are just after money, posing as terrorists threatening one room of coked-up executives, these guys are actually terrorists prepared to kill thousands, free a murderous dictator and change the world order. The pre-911 airport security is ridiculous but the terrorists do comment on it's laxity. Like the first movie, McClaine operates as the inverted antagonist, for the meticulously planned operation of the protagonist bad guys. You almost feel sorry for them, as he starts mucking up all their schedule the instant they step foot into the airport. I loved the moment when an exasperated official asks McClaine "What are you gonna do?!?" and he just replies "Whatever I can" it's low-key every-man action-hero gold. The "Yippee-ki-yay, motherf*cker!" line hits so hard when McClane casually takes out a jumbo-jet with his Zippo lighter.
I've always loved 'Die Hard 2: Die Harder' and not just for the tongue-in-cheek flair of the subtitle. I'm not saying it's better than the first near-perfect classic but it's close enough that I really have to think about it. I probably watched this more than the original when I was a teen, perhaps because it just seemed to be on TV at Christmas more. Double the budget gives a bigger scale, larger canvas, higher stakes, wall-to-wall action, blockbuster FX and glossier cinematography. Okay the script is a pretty obvious rehash of the first film, rushed out within a year of 'Die Hard' but it's one of those cases where if this was the only 'Die Hard', people would hail it as a masterpiece of the action genre and not dismiss it as an imitation (which it is). It's actually got the chutzpah to wink at the audience with the "How can the same sh*t happen to the same guy twice!?" line. This time I was appreciating how "Hong Kong" the action scenes looked and sounded. Especially the "annex skywalk" sequence with squibs and bodies flying everywhere, 10 bullets when 1 would've done and McClaine doing those 'The Killer' type moves. I also hadn't noticed the 'Jaws' vibe to the plot, with Dennis Franz's airport police chief Lorenzo as "the mayor of shark city" to McClane's 'Brody'. Although he's more likeable because you can sympathise with all the provocation McClane throws at him and he does have the guts to admit he's wrong in the end. All the characters are equally well defined (or cliched but in a good way), the plucky young reporter, the stern control tower boss, the kooky janitor and the sassy stewardess. Tweaked a bit more and they'd be into 'Airplane!'s "Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue" territory. The best support and comic relief comes from the sparring between William Atherton's amoral reporter and Bonnie Bedelia's Holly.
The villains aren't on anywhere near the same level, writing and acting wise, as Alan Rickman's 'Hans Gruber' but they make up for that in the greater threat posed. One example being the story beat where Gruber shoots 'Mr.Takagi', is replaced here with William Sadler deliberately murdering a plane full of delightfully British families arriving for Christmas, just to prove a point. Gruber's gang are just after money, posing as terrorists threatening one room of coked-up executives, these guys are actually terrorists prepared to kill thousands, free a murderous dictator and change the world order. The pre-911 airport security is ridiculous but the terrorists do comment on it's laxity. Like the first movie, McClaine operates as the inverted antagonist, for the meticulously planned operation of the protagonist bad guys. You almost feel sorry for them, as he starts mucking up all their schedule the instant they step foot into the airport. I loved the moment when an exasperated official asks McClaine "What are you gonna do?!?" and he just replies "Whatever I can" it's low-key every-man action-hero gold. The "Yippee-ki-yay, motherf*cker!" line hits so hard when McClane casually takes out a jumbo-jet with his Zippo lighter.
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