Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in Chicago, plus articles, trailers and more

 

Die Hard 2 (1990)

Director: Renny Harlin

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Yet again, humble detective John McClane (Willis) stumbles into a terrorist plot, this time to hijack a whole airport. Yet again, the authorities dismiss him as a jerk, and he must save the day single-handedly. 'Man, I can't believe this,' he moans. 'How can shit like this happen to the same guy twice?' This kind of self-referential irony, stopping just short of full-blown parody, saves the film; no one carries a one-liner better than Willis. He's also unusual among Hollywood's Action Men in seeming vulnerable at the same time as being invincible. Harlin fails to bring out the claustrophobic tension between the terrorists that made the original a masterpiece among blockbusters, but more than compensates in timing, speed and sheer volume. So what if there are reservations? We're talking action not art, and on that level Die Hard 2 succeeds magnificently.

Author: DW

Time Out Film Guide


What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields




Most popular on this site


Features

Do overs!

Do overs!

After Race to Witch Mountain, what should Disney remake next?

Gray's anatomy

James Gray wants to push buttons—again.

The next big thing?

Gigantic Releasing tries to rethink indie distribution…without movie theaters.

Red Diva: Lyubov Orlova, First Lady of Soviet Cinema

So you think you can dance, comrade?

Puppet master

Coraline director Henry Selick takes stop-motion animation into 3-D.

Socratic method

Laurent Cantet's approach on the set matches the message of his film.

Wander woman

Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy puts a Bush-era spin on the road movie.

Oscars

Read our interviews with the nominees, our reviews of the nominated films and more.