Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990)

It’s Christmas time again which means that John McClane is killing terrorists again. It must be an annual event now, a family tradition in the grandest sense. Hey kids, what do you want to do this Christmas? We want to watch you single handedly kill all the terrorists that have taken over something. Pop the popcorn and bring out the sleeping bags, John McClane doesn’t disappoint.

In the second installment of the Die Hard movies, McClane saves the day by running around an airport killing the bad guys who have shut down the computers making it so that all the planes can’t land.

There are a few exciting guest appearances in this movie, one of them being Carl Winslow, as mentioned before in my Die Hard review. This time he only makes a brief appearance with Twinkies in his mouth. He doesn’t let down the audience either, it’s pure, uncut Carl Winslow goodness. T-1000, Robert Patrick, from Terminator 2 is also in this movie. Only, he dies. His character is not as bad ass in this movie. Of course the T-1000 came after Die Hard, so we’ll let the fact that he got his butt kicked by McClane slide this time.

Die Hard 2: Die Harder is more of the same fun and same action at the first one. In fact, it is very similar to the first one and McClane makes comments about that in the movie. It is not as packed full with action as the first one but it is definitely one to put on the list of Christmas movies to watch. It ends with the ever so pleasant song, “Let It Snow,” just like the first one.

Amount of time before McClane related action: ~ 13 minutes

Guys getting killed (Bad guys): Military terrorists

Best Kill: McClane jumps onto the bad guys’ wing of their air plane as they are trying to make their escape.  Major Grant (John Amos) thinks it will be fun to go kick the snot out of McClane…and of course kill him. So, Major Grant walks out onto the wing and starts to beat McClane up. They battle; then, McClane gets the upper hand and knocks Major Grant onto the edge of the wing right over the turbine. Major Grant says something about actually liking McClane. McClane replies, “I’ve got enough friends.” He kicks him into the turbine. You can hear things getting squished and grinded and then blood squirts out the back of the turbine all over the plane.

Best line: I have to mention the line the movies are known for. McClane keeps up the tradition with, “Yippee-kai-yay motherf*****” as he is killing a large group of people. Aside from that, the best new line would have to be delivered by McClane of course. He is talking to the head of police, Carmine. Carmine isn’t listening to McClane and is telling him to get out. McClane replies, “Carmine, let me ask you something. What sets off the metal detector first? The lead in your ass or the s**t in your brain?” Now that is a classy burn. I wish I was McClane’s friend.

Best Explosion: After the scuffle from the best kill happens, another guy comes out to try to kill McClane. This time it is McClane’s turn to get kicked to the edge of the wing. The only difference between McClane and Major Grant is that McClane has brains. He opens the fuel tank to let all the fuel drain out. He then falls off the wing. The plane keeps going trying to take off, leaving a trail of fuel. McClane lights the fuel and it follows the trail up to the air plane as it is taking off, causing the whole plane to explode. It explodes in several different sections causing a massive and prolonged explosion. You just can’t walk that off.

Types of injuries: Of course, it wouldn’t be a Die Hard flick without McClane getting his ass handed to him several times. Throughout the movie he gets into several fist fights, at least three minor explosions, kicked off the wing of an air plane and ejected from the cockpit. His eyebrow, jaw, hand, are bleeding like crazy and side of his head is all busted up leaving his shirt soaked with blood. Tasty!

Rating: 3.5 yippee-kai-yays, out of 5