Die Hard 2 [Blu-ray]

The first, and worst, sequel to Die Hard (until Die Hard 4, if you count that as a real Die Hard film), is terrorized by the same plot as the original. While waiting for his wife's plane to arrive at Dulles Airport (on Xmas Eve), McClane notices a few suspicious exchanges between a group of men amidst the busy yuletide passengers.

Before you know he is neck deep in trouble with an army of mercenaries, led by Colonel Stewart (William Sadler), who are hell-bent on setting free a corrupt South American General/Drug Baron (Franco Nero). There are more bad guys than before. And more suspension of disbelief is required.

There are so many plot holes and illogical moments that the film almost drowns in its own absurdity. But there is enough action and stunts to cancel it out and distract our attention. Though they not presented in a breathtaking or memorable way. It's all too generic and a bit mean-spirited. No audience nowadays would be satisfied with it so prepare yourself for 80's violence with lots of superfluous F-Bombs.

William Sadler and Franco Nero lack the callous efficiency of Alan Rickman. And a hero can only be measured by his nemesis. But most of the time McClane is just capping off nameless Mercs. How boring. Tho this should not be blamed on Sadler, he has a threatening and intense presence and as he has proven himself in movies like Trespass and Demon Knight. Too bad his character here is so badly written and underdeveloped. I'm sorry but blowing up 250 people off-screen to show how evil you are just won't cut it.

This movie without a doubt certified Renny Harlin as an action director. It was a tough, and huge, movie to pull off. Only he just did it off with no particular charm, it's very workman-like. Though he does a wonderful job of capturing the look and feel of an East Coast winter. The wide-open snowfields and ice-covered runways will definitely make you feel chilly and gives it a more Xmas-y look than the first film.

Although this is another problem. The first Die Hard worked entirely within the space of Nakatomi Plaza. It was claustrophobic and almost plausible. The scale and scope of Die Hard 2 is too big for its own good. The staples of reality are ripped out with ignorance and over-confidence. The bulk of the film is nothing but one dumb action scene after another. It doesn't make for coherent viewing.

Die Hard 2 is a definite lag in between both of McTiernan's very strong outings. By today's standards it seems dated and very 90's. Which is a shame considering the original and 'With A Vengeance' are, in a way, 'timeless'. It's movies like this that inspired 'Last Action Hero'.

Filmed in Panavision, the 2.35:1 1080p picture is superb looking with true blacks (a lot of this film is set at night) and nice fleshtones. Fire effects and colors look beautifully orange and overall the quality is top notch. The gunshots are loud and ferocious in DTS HD-MA. All explosions and every punch and kick are rendered with amazing clarity. Some of the surrounds tend to stick to mono but the plane crash in the middle of the movie will convince it is actually happening in your living room. Dialogue scenes tend to stick to the front speaker, and the musical score by Michael Kamen is well recorded and is sure to excite.

Renny Harlin's commentary is much more interesting that John McTiernan's fatigued and labored effort on the first movie. Harlin talks about the characters more and how he prefers his movies to be in terms of motivation and why characters should smoke only if it is necessary. Among other things. Such as how many of the effects he did then, in many different ways, would be so much quicker and easier to do today in Digital CGI.

The Featurette was made for Fox TV back in 1990 and it is a bit better than the usual, self-congratulatory nonsense that bogs down most featurettes. But it still can't resist talking about how 'great' the movie is. Tho thanks to this extra we now know that most of the snow in the movie is shredded soap. A second, 4-minute, Featurette is basically an extended trailer.

There are a few deleted scenes that are not that interesting and it's easy to see why they were cut from the film. Although the alternate scene on how McClane gets to the Annex Skywalk (The Boiler Room) is quite cool.

The interview with Renny Harlin and the Villain's Profile are promotional titbits in which they discuss how to direct a high-concept sequel and how to be an evil bad guy.

Behind the scenes and storyboards focuses on 2 scenes. The first is 'Breaking the Ice' and the second is 'Chaos on the Conveyor Belt'. The storyboard and film comparison is for the 'Skywalk Ambush' sequence.

Visual effects breakdowns explore, in great length and tedious, repetitive slo-mo, the Ejector seat scene and the Airport Runway. These are basically green-screen evolutions. The other model effects scenes broken down are 'Chopper', 'Airplane Models' and 'Wing Fight'.

John McClane is back! This time it's an airport he has to save from destruction - and he's pretty much alone on his crusade. When he sees a gang of misfits breaking into the luggage area, John gets rightfully suspicious; but the Captain thinks it's just punks fooling around. How wrong is he?

With John facing an apocalypse if he doesn't restore control, and he's got few friends, and a lot of enemies including mercs and the lack of cooperation from the police.

Another fine film, thankfully remastered for Blu-Ray disk. The picture is beautiful and full framed, running at a staggering 30MB/s average, and the tru-HD sound at 20MB/s is absolutely amazing. It really does feel like you're in the cinema. There are two languages: French and Spanish, and the commentary from director Renny Harlin, which is quite interesting. The 1080p transfer is a big welcome, as it's smooth, and colourful, and a beauty to watch.

The extras are the best I've seen in a while: 4 deleted scenes which are pretty good, the making of, a featurette about the bad guys, a documentary: Die Harder: The Making of Die Hard 2 and some trailers. If you really like these Die Hard films, I think you're really going to be in your element with this Blu-Ray disk.

The film itself is a masterpiece, with Bruce Willis having some great lines and action sequences. Also some great lines from Mrs McClane (Bonnie Bedelia) on the plane. It's not the best Die Hard, but it's in order of 3,1,2,4 for me.

Definitely worth getting if you love the series, and to show off your high def kit.

Another splendid Die Hard action film from Bruce Willis and it looks fine on Blu-ray. I know that we need to withhold disbelief at the extraordinarily long arm of coincidence in these films but they are fine entertainment for those of us who enjoy action movies that are not overloaded with graphic blood splatter scenes. I have watched this film several times over the past 20 years and the only real issue that I have with it is the igniting of the aviation fuel by Bruce Willis and the very high speed at which the resulting flame appeared to be capable of travelling along the ground and through the air. I continue to wonder whether or not this is possible!