Customer Reviews

Die Hard 2: Special Edition (Widescreen) [2 Discs]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The product arrived at the date stated, and was in pristine condition. i would purchase from them a million more times !

After the original Die Hard the plot in this was lame. What really ruined it for me however was the excessive use of profanity. One can only deduce based on this and several other movies that those in the US armed forces need to a) drastically need to increase their vocabulary or b) need to take ESL classes, there is no way any of them could have passed English in any level of school. The script writers must have experience with the way US armed forces personel speak otherwise they could not have come up with this garbage. As I have already stated, it isn't just this movie that has this kind of portrayal, obciously the education system in the US is a miserable failure or maybe only imbeciles are allowed into the armed forces.

Count me among the few, it seems, who believe DIE HARD 2 to be almost as good as the original DIE HARD. I personally don't understand why this sequel always seems to be undervalued in favor of the jaggedly uneven, incoherent DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE.

Certainly DIE HARD 2 is not as good as the original. It lacks the first film's grittiness and claustrophobic atmosphere (but of course a loss of the latter was expected when the scriptwriters expanded the playing field to an entire airport as opposed to one floor of a highrise); its villain is no match for DIE HARD's subtly chilling Hans Gruber; and director Renny Harlin disappointingly favors action over those little human touches that so distinguished the original, insteading favoring more action. (Besides, couldn't the screenwriters have come up with a more creative plot than simply recycling the general structure of the original? But hey, this is a Hollywood product, where it's best not to take too many chances in the quest to cash-in on a big success, which DIE HARD certainly was.)

All that being said, the action sequences are undeniably thrilling---the action of the second half, particularly, moves so quickly from one great setpiece to another that the momentum never lets up 'til the very end---and Bruce Willis is just as good as he was in the original, proving that he will always be John McClane in my mind. All in all, DIE HARD 2 is arguably even MORE entertaining viscerally than DIE HARD.

In short, DIE HARD will forever be a genre classic, but DIE HARD 2 is a worthy sequel when it comes to pure action---and when you are talking about action movies, isn't the action what's really important anyway?

I would like to start by pointing out that this movie gets a lot of crap. A LOT. This is in no way as bad as the reviews may make you think, and in fact this is my favorite Die Hard film.

I'm a huge fan of the series. I've seen them all plenty of times, and this one stands out for me. I'm not the only one, either; Ebert also claims this to be the greatest Die Hard. You've heard the same complaints about this movie a thousand times, I'm sure of it. But what tends to be left out is the amazing special effects, the truely die hard enemies, and the perfectly directed action scenes. This was directed by a different director than the other two blockbusters. Die Hard 2 also made the most money at the box offices. It really is the best!

While this installment is the weakest of the three, it still has some exciting moments. All in all, I think the film tried so hard to top the first (best) Die Hard film, that the failure is that much more evident.

The characterizations are not as well fleshed-out as in the others. The action scenes become predictable and less exciting as the movie progresses.

I had to laugh at one of the BIGGEST continuity flaws I've ever witnessed in a big-budget movie: the plane that crashes is forced to the ground by lack of fuel. Why, then, does it explode in a HUGE fireball if it's out of gas? Somebody screwed up.

In this movie we find John Mcclane at Dulles airport just waiting for his wife to fly in. all of the sudden terrorist take over the airport and McClanes wifes plane is forced to circle above it. This was a great movie with all the great stunts and the ejection chair, but I thought that it would have been alot better if the terrorist went in the airport and took it over not from a near by church. I cant wait for Die Hard 5, Die Hardest.

This movie has so much fire! And things blowing up! And it's even got a plot. How often do you find a movie with non-stop explosions that has a plot? Bruce is pretty hot, and he's got a sense of humor too. An extremely excellent movie!

The first, and worst, sequel to Die Hard, is terrorised 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.

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 proved 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 was Renny Harlin's second movie of 1990 (the other was Ford Fairlain) and it is without a doubt the movie that made him a certified action director. It was a tough, and huge, movie to pull off. He just pulled it off with no particular charm. 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.

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. Similar to the problems of ID4, 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 anamorphic 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 aside from a few instances of minor pixelation.

The gunshots are loud and ferocious in both the Dolby Digital and DTS tracks. 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'.

What is wrong with you lot??!!! This is a great movie and I have to say that this is better than the first one!!! Not to say that that one was mediocre. It was great to but I love this one even more! McClane finds himself fighting vicious terrorists whove seized a major international airport with many planes stranded in mid-air and McClane has to save the passengers on the planes and destroy the terror network before fuel runs out and causes the planes to crash. This is a great movie and should be owned today!!

Because of 9/11, this movie would not see the light of day if submitted to Hollywood, but it is definately a good one, as with most sequels this one suffers from redundantcy, but it works better than most follow-ups, it is exactly one year to the day since John McClane saved the day in the first movie, & he is at Dulles International airport awaiting the arrival of his wife Holly on Christmas Eve, while there he notices suspious activity in which he once again gets caught up with terrorist, who turn out to be former military men who have for whatever reason abandoned their code of conduct & are led by Col. Stewart(William Sadler) who takes control of the airport in an attempt to see the safe arrival of a International drug lord, who is being extradicted to the U.S. to stand trial for crimes, almost like a Saddam Hussein type, who he is in cahoots with, with other arriving flights held in the air low on fuel, one in which McClane's wife Holly is on, several shootouts ensue as McClane desperatly tries to foil their plan, one attempt even enrages Stewart to where he puposely crashes a plane in an attempt to make good on his threats to the towers above after he has seized control of the towers operations, with many of the tower's operaters watching helplessly, one being TN Senator Fred Dalton Thompson as the head of operations at the airport & NYPD Blue's Dennis Franz as a bearucratic airport security chief who fails to listen to McClane's earlier warnings, the crash scene is graphic in its portrayal & disturbing in light of 9/11, many of the first films same elements are here & are quite good, Willis' sarcasm is on par, & many neat action sequences make this better that most sequels, the action never stops & never bores, you really can't compare Sadler to Alan Rickman in the first film, because they are different kinds of bad guys with different intensions & motivations, & the setting in an airport with snow constant throughout the film shows the attention to detail, directed by Renny Harlan(Cliffhanger) this is definately a winner as far as sequels go, & a better follow-up than the 1995 "with a Vengence"!!!