After 1988's Die Hard blew audiences through the back wall of the theater, grossing over $80 million at the box office (hey, that was a big deal 20 years ago) and earning 4 Oscar nominations (for Visual Effects, Sound Mixing and Editing and Film Editing), a sequel was a foregone conclusion, and Bruce Willis, coming to the end of his Moonlighting TV gig, signed on almost immediately. But director John McTiernan had to bow out, being busy directing 1990's The Hunt For Red October instead. So what was 20th Century Fox to do?

Despite the money and anticipation riding on this sophomore effort (which would either encourage a lucrative franchise or crash and burn with disappointed audiences), they took a chance by handing the film to relative newcomer Renny Harlin, a Finnish director who's last feature was the Freddy Kruger sequel A Nightmare On Elm St. 4 and who was currently shooting the Andrew "Dice" Clay vehicle The Adventures Of Ford Fairlane (both that film and Die Hard 2 would eventually open within weeks of each other in the summer of 1990, Harlin overseeing post-production on both films simultaneously). It could have been a disaster, but Harlin, a hungry young talent clearly looking to make a name for himself, managed to make not so much a sequel as an equal.

Die Hard 2 (which earned the chuckle-inducing subtitle Die Harder), scripted by Steven E. De Souza and Doug Richardson from the novel 58 Minutes by Walter Wager, finds Willis' cop John McClane (who re-located to L.A. in-between films) awaiting the arrival of his wife, Holly (Bonnie Bedilia) at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. on Christmas Eve. But, as fate would have it, John's about to have yet another bad holiday season, as a group of disenfranchised former American soldiers led by the ruthless Colonel Stuart (William Sadler, who earns a truly memorable introductory scene) remotely seizes control of the control tower, cutting off power to the landing lights and leaving the planes circling in the snow-choked skies above (including the one with Holly aboard) in a perpetual holding pattern.

What they want is simple: to take possession of a plane carrying a third-world country dictator (Franco Nero) currently being extradited to the United States and due to arrive at Dulles within hours. McClane is naturally not going to stay on the sidelines and let the airport's bullheaded head of security (Dennis Franz) head the crisis response, so he once again finds himself as a lone wolf against the system, the Nakatomi building in the original film replaced with a maze of tunnels and air conditioning ducts connecting the various airport buildings and runways that McClane must navigate as he desperately tries to thwart Colonel Stuart's mad schemes and rescue his wife and the countless other innocent people held hostage in the skies above.

It's odd, considering how well-received the film was in its original release (out-grossing the original by nearly $40 million and receiving excellent reviews, even making its way to #6 on the late Gene Siskel's "Best Of 1990" list), how the film's reputation has fallen in the eyes of the series' fans. Granted, one has to able to swallow the supreme contrivance of McClane being "the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time" a second Christmas in a row ("Story of my life..."), and the film increases exponentially on the original film's already-harsh level of violence, with Harlin's proclivity for excessively bloody, 80's-style squibs and ghoulish, slasher-movie gross-outs (like the notorious bit with McClane dispatching a foe with a razor-sharp icicle to the eye socket, a gag later copied verbatim in the mediocre Assault On Precinct 13 remake, and another "Ewwwwwww"-inducing moment where he bites the hand of a villain during a fight then spits a wad of bloody flesh at the camera). Plus, the scene where McClane's actions against the terrorists causes them to deliberately crash a fully-booked 747 on the runway in retaliation was considered distasteful and excessive by audiences back during the film's inital release (and, considering recent world events, it's even more sobering today).

Yet shocking as that scene is (and it is truly merciless), it ramps up the viewer's desire to see McClane avenge those innocent people lost, and Harlin does just as good a job as McTiernan did in the previous movie of setting up the basic geography of the airport and surrounding area so that the viewer always knows where McClane is in relation to his quarry. Plus, the film's visual effects (courtesy of ILM) are an improvement on the already-impressive original (particular kudos to McClane's memorable exit from an exploding plane), Harlin's action sequences are crisply-choreographed and edited, and there's plenty of Willis' trademark potty-mouth humor making the gruesome aspects of the film more palatable ("Hey Carmine, what sets off the metal detectors first...the lead in your ass or the shit in your brains?"). I'm amazed that so many people prefer McTiernan's sloppy, disjointed 1995 threequel Die Hard With A Vengeance to this smashing sophomore effort, filled with bloody thrills and snowbound chills.

Presentation
Oliver Wood's crisp cinematography is beautifully rendered in this sparkling 2:35 anamorphic transfer. Likewise the explosions, gunfire and body blows sound exquisite in both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 (with additional language tracks in basic 2.0 stereo English and French). Like the first film, this is a perfect home theater demo disc, perfect for putting one's subwoofer and surround channels through their paces.

Extras
Disc one features a solo commentary by director Renny Harlin, who takes the listener through his initial hiring, the difficulty in editing two films simultaneously, the search for proper snow-bound locations, and the logistics of the overall production. It's a track filled with interesting production anecdotes, enhanced by Harlin's amusing Finnish accent (which may have inspired William Sadler's Grim Reaper accent in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey).

Disc two features the following:

-The Making Of Die Hard 2 (23:05): A typical 90's TV special, filled with clips of the first two films, but also featuring some good behind-the-scenes footage and a look at the remarkable forced-perspective miniature airport set Harlin had constructed for the view out of the control tower windows.

-Featurette (4:00): Pure EPK filler you won't miss a second of.

-Trailers (4 total, including the memorable teaser with specially-shot footage of McClane running through a steam-filled corridor) and one TV Spot.

-Deleted Scenes (4 total):

"Merry Christmas" (0:41), a useless bit of business that intercuts McClane's entrance into the airport lounge with a children's choir performing "Carol Of The Bells".

"Down The Rabbit Hole" (0:55), which features one of the terrorists (played by a pre-T2 Robert Patrick murdering a pair of painters and stealing their van, setting up a latter firefight at the Annex Skywalk.

"Marvin" (2:50), an extended version of the scene where McClane first meets the janitor Marvin (Tom Bower) who helps him at several points in the film. This goes into detail about Marvin's background as a WWII vet and reveals he's actually living down in the tunnels. McClane agrees not to blow the whistle on him in exchange for directions to the Annex Skywalk.

"The Boiler Room" (3:47), a much more elaborate version of how McClane makes it to the Annex Skywalk, including a de facto circus tightrope routine ("Jeez, you gotta be Spider-Man!").

-Interview with director Renny Harlin and a Villain's Profile with William Sadler.

-Behind The Scenes offers storyboards for the Annex Skywalk shootout (I just love typing the phrase "Annex Skywalk", for some reason), Breaking The Ice (4:07), a look at the film's snowmobile chase, and Chaos On The Conveyor Belt (7:30), which looks at the shootout in the baggage area, replete with fight rehearsals and Willis suggesting potential McClane one-liners ("Can I have one Christmas where I'm not shot at?!").

-Visual Effects offers breakdowns of Ejector Seat (3:06, one of the film's signature "money" shots), and Airport Runway (1:45, a look at the matte painting - one of the last traditionally hand-painted ones ever done - created for the film's final shot), plus three featurettes on Chopper, Airplane Models, and Wing Fight.

Final Verdict
A model for how to make a "same-but-different" sequel that retains the crowd-pleasing elements of the first film while effectively offering a "bigger", more elaborate experience. Don't let Harlin's often-ludicrous post-Cliffhanger filmography deter you from this, his finest film, and one of the most successful sequels ever made.