I'm trying
something different to get in the holiday spirit this year. Every
day, from now through Christmas, I will be watching a different
Christmas movie or television special. I have compiled the list of
features ahead of time and am drawing one, at random, from my
Christmas stocking everyday to determine what gets watched. Thank
you for joining me in this endeavor. Two full weeks in to this and
things are really moving along now. What does the stocking have for
me this time?
Die Hard 2: Die
Harder (1990)
So, I am sensing a trend in the stocking's picks. It really seems
to like to have me watch sequels before the films that led to them.
That is fine with me. It actually worked out pretty well last time.
I am aware that this film may seem like a cheat as it is an action
movie first and foremost, but it takes place on Christmas Eve and
there are Christmas decorations in the background frequently. That's
good enough for me, and it is my list. Released in 1990 Die Hard 2
obviously is the follow up to Die Hard. I have seen the film before; I received it on DVD as a Christmas gift from my brother. However, it has
been around eight or so years since I watched it last. I remember
Die Hard 2 to be largely a repeat of the first film. But, unlike
Home Alone 2, I do remember it being fun, if slightly ridiculous.
Will that still be my opinion or will a follow up viewing shift my
feelings towards it. A slight note, the movie itself doesn't refer
to itself with the Die Harder subtitle but a lot of video releases
do, including my DVD. I love how ridiculously bad that subtitle is,
hence that is how I will be referring to this film from here on out.
Synopsis
Die
Harder opens with John McClane having his car impounded at Dulles
Airport on Christmas Eve. While waiting for his wife's flight to
arrive he sees two suspicious men making their way into a restricted
area of the airport. Shorty after McClane investigates, he has his
first kill of the movie. McClane is sure that there was more to the
actions of the men, but the airport security is confident that they
were just luggage thieves and are unwilling to close the area to
investigate due to the volume of holiday travel. McClane is right, of course,
and soon terrorists led by disgraced U.S. special forces Colonel
William Stuart have taken command of the control tower systems remotely and
are holding the planes in the air hostage to secure the release of a
South American dictator/drug kingpin, General Ramon Esperanza,
currently in the process of extradition to the United States.
 |
| Death by luggage roller, the first of many violent deaths meted out by John McClane |
A
game of cat and mouse is played with the stakes escalating to the
point where the terrorists cause a plane to come in for a landing but
give it the wrong telemetry so that they think they are higher than
they are and they crash on the tarmac. Despite McClane's efforts
Stuart and his men are able to secure Esperanza. This brings in the
special forces to take Stuart down. Eventually, Stuart's base of
operations is located in a nearby church and an assault is launched.
The fire fight is intense but the special forces are unable to
prevent Stuart's escape. McClane sets off in pursuit and discovers
that the machine guns being used by both the special forces and
Stuart's men were shooting blanks. Both sides are part of the same
plot. The special forces join up with Stuart and start to make their
final escape on a cargo conversion 747. McClane gets a news
helicopter to pull up along side the jet as it is taxiing up the
runway. McClane jumps aboard the wing. Although he is unsuccessful
in stopping the plane and gets thrown off of it, he does manage to
activate the fuel dump. McClane delivers his catch phrase and lights
the fuel trail on fire. The plane explodes and Stuart, his men, and
Esperanza are all dead. The planes circling above that by this point are very low on fuel use the
light from the fire to land safely. Roll credits and play Let
it Snow.
 |
| "Yippee Ki-yay, Mr. Falcon!" - John McClane's catch phrase according to the TBS broadcast version. |
Final Thoughts
Die Harder is enjoyable as long as
you accept it for what it is. I only have a couple of real
complaints. First this movie makes John McClane in to some kind of
Schwarzenegger-esque super human. This is far different than his portrayal in the first film. Further, this film commits one of
what I consider to be the cardinal sins of sequels. It needlessly
brings back way too many of the characters from the first film. I
like William Atherton. He plays a great weaselly antagonist (see
Ghostbusters). However, his character from the first film really
didn't need to be brought back. To make it even worse, he fills the
same role in the film. In an attempt to score a great scope, he
disregards the delicacy of the situation at hand and makes life harder
for McClane.
 |
| William Atherton may have the most punchable face of all time. |
There are enough interesting things
going on in Die Harder that it is on the cusp of being a legitimately
great sequel. However it also takes more than a few turns to
absolute action schlock. You won't be blown away by it but you
probably won't be disappointed by it either. As for watching it as
part of your holiday movie rotation, it might not be for everyone but
it can be a fun change of pace. For me, with thirty films and
specials to watch it is good to have a couple of unorthodox ones to
break the monotony. That is all for me today. Join me tomorrow to
see if we are back to something more traditional or if we continue
with odd picks.
No comments:
Post a Comment