‹ All movies
Die Hard 2 poster

Die Hard 2

year 1990decade 90sdirector Renny Harlingenre Actiongenre Thriller

124 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Bruce Willis John McClane
Bonnie Bedelia Holly McClane
William Sadler Colonel Stuart
John Amos Major Grant
Franco Nero General Ramon Esperanza
William Atherton Richard Thornburg
Dennis Franz Captain Carmine Lorenzo
Art Evans Leslie Barnes

Die Hard 2 | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryanhost Sean Fennesseyproducer Craig Horlbeck theme Bruce Willis retirement tribute
Explore episodeClose episode

Most Rewatchable Scene

Baggage-area fight; first McClane-Lorenzo meeting; painters shootout and ramp standoff; ejection and parachute escape; runway fight and fuel-trail landing

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:25:08Read transcript
  • First listed: McClane fighting two men in a restricted baggage area, with Vondie Curtis Hall; the cluttered, climbable set is praised and the airport raised as a possible Apex Mountain for airport movies, though it was not actually shot at Dulles.
  • The first McClane-Lorenzo meeting is quoted, with both actors bringing it; it sets up the trope of an official who is unimpressed by a proven hero, riffed on through an imagined Sully Sullenberger being brushed off.
  • The metal-detector insult to Carmine is noted as a likely ad-lib whose joke nobody fully understands.
  • The paintball-style shootout, with sinister painters (including Robert Patrick) ignored by the airport SWAT team, and the suspenseful moving-ramp standoff are nominated.
  • The plane crash is called the craziest and most horrifying scene in action-movie history; with some 220 deaths quickly moved past, it is judged memorable rather than rewatchable.
  • After 9/11 such a scene would never be made; the movie is one of the most violent mainstream films, mixing sight gags with a British plane crash that kills about 200 people, after which everyone at Dulles keeps drinking and waiting, and making the passengers unlikable British travelers is called a weird choice.
  • McClane pushing the crate, taking on Esperanza on the transport plane and ejecting leads to a shot of him parachuting at the camera, called one of the better action-movie shots, though the villains oddly fail to finish him.
  • The final fight with John Amos and Stuart ends with the plane blown up on an improbably long runway and controllers using the fire trail to guide landing planes.
  • Additional favorites: the news helicopter pilot saying he is crazy but not that crazy, repeated blueprint-reading scenes with Art Evans, and the William Atherton-Bonnie Bedelia first-class feud.

What’s Aged the Best?

Naked tai chi; the That Guy ensemble; "I taught him everything he knows"; the profane reporter brush-off; "How can the same shit happen to the same guy twice?"; airports at Christmas

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 00:40:10Read transcript
  • Naked tai chi instantly establishes the villain, prompting a joke about reclaiming naked tai chi for the good guys.
  • The That Guy record is revisited: Fred Thompson, William Sadler, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Leguizamo, the doomed pilot, Don Harvey, Dennis Franz, Robert Costanzo, Sheila McCarthy and Art Evans.
  • The line about having taught the villain everything he knows is a favorite action trope, spun into a First Blood-style bit about a rogue colleague turned terrorist.
  • A reporter asking a colonel (transcribed "Colonel Stewart") for a few words and getting a two-word profane brush-off as he walks past her is chosen and jokingly recommended for office use.
  • The line about the same thing happening to the same guy twice is praised for self-awareness and noted as sampled in Positive K's I Got a Man.
  • Airports at Christmas are chosen for the chaotic, nostalgic vibe of parkas and drinking before flights, though the same behavior also counts as aged worst.
  • McClane leaving his car at the curb, drinking and spotting trouble across the terminal is contrasted with a real traveler watching a Bulls game with a bet on it.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Forgotten plane-crash trauma; lax airport security; waiting at the gate; indoor smoking; the chlorine line; the TV reporter casting; control-tower access; SWAT resuscitation; grenade count and timing; widescreen framing on old TVs

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:44:48Read transcript
  • Christmas airport behavior is listed under aged worst as well, since the experience has completely changed.
  • The trauma of the incinerated passengers coming and going in minutes, and the lack of secured airports, lead the list.
  • Hanging out at the airport or gate to meet arrivals is now inconceivable, illustrated by a father meeting the family at the gate in Philadelphia and friends greeting a roommate off the plane in 1994; the romantic-comedy airport chase is gone too.
  • Smoking indoors is aged worst, spawning a SigPod spinoff joke and a tangent about bad movie smokers and Regarding Henry.
  • The pissing-in-the-pool, fresh-out-of-chlorine line is called bad and incomprehensible.
  • The TV reporter is judged poorly cast, with ideas held for the Recasting Couch.
  • Anyone, apparently armed, can walk into the air-traffic control tower, and medics try to resuscitate a SWAT officer who has obviously been shot many times.
  • The grenade scene is cut bizarrely: an announced three grenades becomes five going in, partly explained by three each, and the delay before they explode is interminable.
  • Belatedly, the super-wide framing was hard to follow on old square TVs but plays well on modern sets.

The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:54:38Read transcript
  • The award goes to Franz, with a joke that Pacino studied this performance before playing Vincent Hanna.
  • Franz plays the most obviously Chicago cop imaginable as the Dulles airport police chief, prompting speculation about a backstory; his little-pond rant about Shriners, lost kids and a reindeer is quoted.
  • D.C. accents are discussed: a Baltimore accent is detectable but Washington is full of transplants.

Apex Mountain

Die Hard 2 for Renny Harlin; Oliver North-style villains; evil John Amos; Bruce Willis's pre-thinning hair; Bonnie Bedelia; icicle eye stabbings; public airphones

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 01:00:08Read transcript
  • The segment opens with a death-toll question: the internet says 114, though the crashed flight alone seemed to hold about 200.
  • Valverde appears in both films, but Commando remains its apex because that movie actually goes there.
  • An apex case for Willis rests on this film outgrossing the first, but the earlier Die Hard verdict is unresolved; he spent the capital on risks such as Bonfire of the Vanities, Hudson Hawk, Billy Bathgate, Mortal Thoughts and Last Boy Scout.
  • Snowmobile chases are raised, with The Living Daylights and Inception offered as rivals; for Franz, NYPD Blue has to be the apex.
  • For Harlin, The Long Kiss Goodnight is the favorite, but this, his most successful film, is his apex; Deep Blue Sea may be what he is best known for, Cliffhanger is loved, and Cutthroat Island pulled him down.
  • More apex picks: Oliver North-style villains, evil John Amos, Willis's pre-thinning hair, and Bonnie Bedelia at her 1990 peak with this and Presumed Innocent; airport-set movies come down to this or Airplane.
  • Icicle eye stabbings get a yes, but Single White Female keeps the top eye stabbing; X is mentioned as a current horror film with a notable one.
  • Two late additions: public airphones, and the debate over whether Sadler's fully nude tai chi tops Swayze's half-nude tai chi in Roadhouse, left unsettled.
  • Die Hard 2 may have invented the recreational taser, but The Hangover, or possibly Jackass, is its apex.

What Piece of Memorabilia Would You Want From This Movie?

White snowsuits; blue-taped blank gun; plane phone; shawl-collar sweater

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:20:56Read transcript
  • A tasteless joke about the crash victims is rebuffed; the white snowsuits those guys wear are the pick. — Chris Ryan
  • The gun loaded with blanks, marked with blue tape, would be fun to bring out at parties.
  • The plane phone is relayed as another pick; making calls from a 1990 flight is noted as no longer possible.
  • Willis's shawl-collar sweater from the first hour is a very early-1990s item nobody would wear now.