The next film alphabetically on Disney Plus is still "A Good Day to Die Hard" but I figured that it would be more sensible to revisit the first four films before rewatching that one. I watched "Die Hard" the other week and found (naturally) that it remains a classic. It's first sequel I've watched a few times, but I was certainly less familiar with. I found it to be a decent action film, but already the character of John McClaine I'm starting to feel is a bit of a jerk.
Two years after the events of Nakatomi Plaza, John McClaine is in Washington Dulland Airport, waiting for his wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) to land. The airports control systems are taken over by a terrorist cell, led by Colonel William Stewart (William Sadler) who wants to liberate a Central American Dictator, General Esperanza (Franco Nero) who is arriving for trial that day. McClaine at first struggles to convince the authorities of the threat, and then tries to eliminate the terrorists single handedly, when his help is refused.
There's quite the cast to this one. Sadler's men include Robert Patrick, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Mark Boone Junor and John Leguizamo. William Atherton and Reginald VelJohnson return from the first film. Dennis Franz, John Amos and Fred Thompson have prominent roles and there's a small role for Colm Meaney. Nobody on the villain's side come close to matching Alan Rickman in terms of memorable performances, so I'm assuming that they went for quantity instead of quality there. The visual effects are quite good for the time, there's a lot of practical explosions and, though it's showing its age now, I'm old enough to remember when the cockpit explosion ejector seat scene was at the pinnacle of what could be done.
I was surprised about how much I disliked McClaine in this one. It's one thing to spar and name call Dennis Franz's local police Captain, but he's the same with everyone in this, including Marvin - a janitor who McClaine berates constantly even though he helps him repeatedly and for no reason. He does get a couple of decent puns in this one "Just the Fax Maam".
Tonally it's maybe a little too bloodthirsty for its own good and the plot of American soldiers helping a foreign leader because "communists are bad" feels very dated, it's still reasonable fun though, though I can't imagine revisiting it again any time soon.
Two years after the events of Nakatomi Plaza, John McClaine is in Washington Dulland Airport, waiting for his wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) to land. The airports control systems are taken over by a terrorist cell, led by Colonel William Stewart (William Sadler) who wants to liberate a Central American Dictator, General Esperanza (Franco Nero) who is arriving for trial that day. McClaine at first struggles to convince the authorities of the threat, and then tries to eliminate the terrorists single handedly, when his help is refused.
There's quite the cast to this one. Sadler's men include Robert Patrick, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Mark Boone Junor and John Leguizamo. William Atherton and Reginald VelJohnson return from the first film. Dennis Franz, John Amos and Fred Thompson have prominent roles and there's a small role for Colm Meaney. Nobody on the villain's side come close to matching Alan Rickman in terms of memorable performances, so I'm assuming that they went for quantity instead of quality there. The visual effects are quite good for the time, there's a lot of practical explosions and, though it's showing its age now, I'm old enough to remember when the cockpit explosion ejector seat scene was at the pinnacle of what could be done.
I was surprised about how much I disliked McClaine in this one. It's one thing to spar and name call Dennis Franz's local police Captain, but he's the same with everyone in this, including Marvin - a janitor who McClaine berates constantly even though he helps him repeatedly and for no reason. He does get a couple of decent puns in this one "Just the Fax Maam".
Tonally it's maybe a little too bloodthirsty for its own good and the plot of American soldiers helping a foreign leader because "communists are bad" feels very dated, it's still reasonable fun though, though I can't imagine revisiting it again any time soon.