PoolMan's Rating: So was it officially called Die Harder, or not?
PoolMan's Review: Sometimes when I stroll through the halls here at MRFH Headquarters, I can't help but notice poor Justin's devotion to the 80's. Sure, we love to bug him about it, but you really haven't seen any obsession till you've seen Big J standing atop a skateboard with no wheels wearing a life preserver and shouting "GO HOVERBOARD! I LOVE YOU HOVERBOARD!" as the tears stream down his face as he once again fails to fly (it's worse when Huey Lewis is playing in the background).

"Die Hard 2 offers us Colonel Stuart, a mercenary whose main driving characteristic is being able to purse his lips so tightly you'd think he'd been asked to lick a rhino's butt."

But we all have to bow our heads to the Late Great Eighties in one key moviegoing category: the action flick. Filmmakers had finally gotten sophistimicated enough to make action look good, with leaping cars and giant fireballs and witty heroes, but had yet to start making everything out of CGI. Which is probably for the best, if you remember the computer graphics from the time. How convinced would we be if we had to watch characters like those in Wierd Al Yankovic's Beverly Hillbillies video?

No, the 80's were where it was AT for good action flicks. And maybe top of the heap was 1988's Die Hard. A nonstop killing and swearfest starring tough guy Bruce Willis (still somewhere near his prime) that featured a unique setup (the whole thing basically happens in one office building) a real antihero (John McClane isn't exactly the model of police perfection) and probably one of THE greatest villains of all time (Alan Rickman's wonderful Hans Gruber). It was a great hit, and a born classic, so you had to know a sequel was coming. Thus, as the clock rolled over to 1990 and the Age of Action ended, McClane decided to start the new decade out with a bang.

So what did they do right with Die Hard 2? Lots, actually. The unfortunate truth of most sequels is that if there's a scent of financial success in the wind, the film studios will create a movie with a softer rating (PG-13 instead of R) to get a wider audience. God bless Die Hard 2, it was actually created as another R-rated movie right out of the blocks, just like the original. This is probably the biggest reason this movie is as accepted as it is. It just wouldn't be the same without the graphic violence and curse-happy hero, and they came through in spades on both of these counts. The movie also sticks with the formula, tinkering with it just enough to make it genuinely different from the first while still being recognizeable. Instead of clearing an office building of Euro-scum terrorists, McClane has to clear an airport of Ameri-scum (best I could think of, sorry) traitors. There's still a harmless black guy for him to converse with (not including a cameo visit from Reggie VelJohnson, Al from the first movie), and he still gets to bust heads while cracking wise. The charm of McClane himself is not lost.

But our fair sequel is just that: fair. A large part of what made the first flick so appealing was the inclusion of Hans Gruber, a genuinely interesting, charming, and intelligent bad guy who you almost find yourself rooting for, just because he actually has so much depth. Not so here. Die Hard 2 offers us Colonel Stuart, a mercenary whose main driving characteristic is being able to purse his lips so tightly you'd think he'd been asked to lick a rhino's butt. There are a couple of twists and turns involving the bad guy team, but all of them put together are anywhere near as interesting as those in the first flick. The rest of the movie's pretty good, but without the great adversary, McClane almost seems a waste. Bruce Willis is just as good as ever, but there's nobody to really challenge him. Also, it's kind of a shame that we lose the claustrophobia of the original. Instead of being confined to the building with the bad guys, the action sprawls around all over the place, in the airport, outside of the airport... there's even enough room for a (snicker) snowmobile chase!

The sequel is still positively Shakespeare next to some action flicks I could think of (Schwarzenneger suddenly comes to mind... yay Kindergarten Cop!) but the truth is it would take a Herculean effort to knock its own daddy out of the number one spot. Totally recommended, but if you can get your hands the first one, so much the better.