We’re back baby! After a stop start year of reviews and a full hiatus from Christmas reviews last year I’m back with a vengeance. Not Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), but instead the film prior Die Hard 2 (1990). Plenty of people would argue that Die Hard (1988) is not a Christmas film, to which I would say they are wrong. Whether the sequel is a Christmas film is more debateable, but I still land on the side that if Die Hard is then so is Die Hard 2, and it’s not just because I have reviewed all the true Christmas classics, and I am now forced scrape the bottom of the barrel.
As is probably suspected, Die Hard 2 does not come close to matching its predecessor, however on the whole it is still a fun ride and a solid enough sequel to an undoubted classic. It does fall into a lot of the traps that many sequels do, mostly in call backs that feel like rehashes, but seeing as this is an action film sequel that also kind of gives you what you want from it. Bruce Willis is again great as John McClane and he is the undoubted star of the show, giving it his all and keeping the cheeky, cocky nature of the character. The action scenes are still very fun and go big when they need to, but it doesn’t have the kind of claustrophobic nature of the original film, and also doesn’t successfully establish the villains of the film which means that often you’re not sure who most are and where they all keep coming from. This is likely due to the idea of upping the ante and giving John more to fight against than in the first film, but it also funnily makes the film less suspenseful because of how seemingly endless the villains are. This also does lead to a decent narrative turn towards the end, but I digress. The villain is also the biggest downgrade in the film. Hans Gruber is of course going to be a hugely hard act to follow, especially given it was Alan Rickman portraying him. But apart from a great introduction scene, William Stuart, played by William Sadler, is quite bland. What he is doing is clearly evil and his character would mean that he is quite methodical, but it doesn’t give the audience much to cling on to.
Despite this the film is still fun, and yes, it is still a Christmas film. Like the first one it is obviously not the focus, but it opens and closes with Christmas songs and has enough nods to the season throughout. Does that mean that it should take a place in your Christmas film catalogue? Well, due to the first film also being a Christmas film and better it seems pointless, but if you’re looking for something new you could do a lot worse.
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