Dr. K's Waiting Room

Released: 4 July 1990
Director: Renny Harlin
Distributor: 20^th Century Fox
Budget: $60 to 70 million
Stars: Bruce Willis, William Sadler, Fred Thompson, John Amos, Art Evans, and Bonnie Bedelia

The Plot:
While waiting at Dulles Airport to pick up his wife, Holly Gennero-McClane (Bedelia), Lieutenant John McClane (Willis) is embroiled in a complex cat-and-mouse plot by disgraced Colonel William Stuart (Sadler) to hijack the planes and liberate a corrupt foreign military leader.

The Background
Roderick Thorp published a follow-up to his 1966 thriller, The Detective, in 1979, to decent reviews. Accordingly, an adaptation of Nothing Lasts Forever did the rounds before being retooled by struggling screenwriter Jeb Stuart. Stuart reimagined Thorp’s aging Detective Joe Leland into a flawed everyman, a role so expertly portrayed by Bruce Willis that it changed the perception of action heroes forever. Despite garnering mixed reviews, Die Hard’s (McTiernan, 1988) $140-odd million box office made it a a massive financial success that revitalised 20^th Century Fox and redefined the action hero stereotype. For the sequel, the filmmakers turned not to Thorp’s writing but to Walter Wager’s 58 Minutes (1987), a thriller in which a police officer has less than an hour to stop terrorists who have hijacked an airport. Inspired by the Iran/Contra affair, Steven E. de Souza helped rework the concept into a Die Hard sequel, which saw star Bruce Willis return to the tune of $7.5 million and producer Joel Silver removed after his spending ballooned the budget. Also marketed with the subtitle Die Harder, Die Hard 2 was the first film to digitally compose live-action footage with a traditional matte painting, which was used for the final runway scene. With a box office of $240 million, Die Hard 2 exceeded expectations and held the largest pre-opening record for six years, though reviews were mixed. Even positive reviews noted issues with the plot and it was dubbed another disappointing sequel of the era that failed to capture the magic of the first film. Still, there are some who claim it to be an under-rated entry and the box office success alone was enough to justify a third entry some five years later.

The Review:
Die Hard 2 immediately expands the focus of its action by pivoting away from a claustrophobic, confined location and dropping grizzled, promoted cop John McClane into a bustling airport over the holiday season. In Die Hard, McClane was burned out, irritable, and desperately trying to win back his estranged wife. His personal issues were compounded by the terrorists who took over Nakatomi Plaza and he vented his anger and frustration on them with sharp-tongued relish. In Die Hard 2, things are going much better for McClane: he’s looking a little less haggard, he’s been promoted and has transferred to the Los Angeles Police Department, and he and Holly are back together. Unfortunately, while they might be on much better terms, they’re still apart as Holly’s flying in to spend Christmas with him, the kids, and her family. Still, they remain in contact through the miracle of airphones and McClane’s excited to meet her at Dulles Airport. Things get off to a shaky start for McClane, however; bad luck seems to follow him around, even when things are going well, as he’s unceremoniously towed by Sergeant Vito Lorenzo (Robert Costanzo) for illegally parking outside the building. McClane’s appeals fall on deaf ears as, in a taste of the disregard McClane’s later shown, Vito’s unimpressed by his rank and stature. To make matters worse, it was his mother-in-law’s car! Still, a $40 fine is the least of McClane’s worries when he wanders through the airport and not only bumps into a strangely familiar face and spots a handful of guys acting very suspiciously. Attentive and curious, McClane observes as the men covertly talk, sync their watches, and Sergeant Oswald Cochrane (John Costelloe) and Miller (Vondie Curtis-Hall) slip into a restricted baggage sorting area. Interestingly, McClane’s first thought isn’t to investigate himself but to instead alert the airport police. However, when he’s greeted by Vito’s smarmy grin, he realises they’ll never take him seriously and follows the two alone. When confronted by McClane, the two open fire and a brief fracas ensues that leaves Cochrane dead, McClane in custody, and Miller alive to tell the tale to his commander, shamed military veteran Colonel William Stuart (the man McClane had bumped into earlier).

After McClane verifies his identity, he’s brought to Captain Carmine Lorenzo (Dennis Franz), who just so happens to be Vito’s brother and who’s not only dismissive of McClane’s reputation, but personally offended by his presence and his attitude. Consequently, Carmine angrily rebukes McClane’s suspicions that the two men were anything more than simple luggage thieves and has him removed from his office. Stubborn and unimpressed by Carmine’s failure to take the situation seriously, McClane takes matters into his own hands and faxes a copy of Cochrane’s fingerprints to his old friend, Sergeant Al Powell (Reginald VelJohnson), who reveals that they’re fake. Based on this, and the men’s weapons, and the impending arrival of the crooked General Ramon Esperanza (Franco Nero), McClane realises that something bad is about to go down and forces his way into the airport control tower to warn Carmine and air traffic controller Ed Trudeau (Thompson) that a group of mercenaries are obviously planning something. While Trudeau seems to take the threat seriously, especially when the tower starts losing power and access to their systems, Carmine refuses to entertain any of McClane’s warnings, believing he’s an overhyped, out of his depth cop trying to steal the spotlight. McClane is unceremoniously booted from the tower and accosted by keen reporter Samantha Coleman (Sheila McCarthy), who name-drops Colonel Stuart and puts the final pieces of the puzzle together for McClane. Unlike in the last film, McClane is surrounded by potential allies but constantly met with antagonism, resentment, and dismissal. No one takes his warnings seriously, causing not only the tower to be compromised when Colonel Stuart hijacks their systems, but also many deaths when Carmine’s crack troops are gunned down by Colonel Stuart’s men (leaving airport chief engineer Leslie Barnes (Evans) wounded) and Stuart brings down an aeroplane in retaliation. Although McClane desperately tries to provide a warning to the doomed aircraft, he ultimately fails and those deaths weigh heavily on his troubled conscience throughout the film. While Trudeau shows some compassion to McClane following this, he continues to be met with hostility from the airport staff and from no-nonsense Major Grant (Amos), who arrives with a bunch of troopers to take control of the situation and, like Carmine, immediately butts heads with McClane, who’s seen as a dangerous loose cannon despite his best efforts to help.

Luckily, McClane does have some allies amongst all these hot-headed egos. While Powell is sadly relegated to a cameo, he does confirm McClane’s suspicions that something’s amiss at Dulles. Barnes proves extremely helpful in offering alternative ways to signal the aircraft, though Colonel Stuart angrily retaliates each time or has set up contingencies for these. Barnes is also the one who clues McClane in that Colonel Stuart’s men are using a coded frequency (though he’s unable to break it) and who re-routes the emergency beacon to covertly communicate with the pilots. While racing to find solutions and workarounds to Colonel Stuart’s plot, McClane ends up in a network of access tunnels beneath the runway and bumps into Marvin (Tom Bower), a quirky janitor with racks upon racks of blueprints who helps McClane get to different areas of the airport, try new ways of signalling the planes, and locate Colonel Stuart’s outpost at a nearby church. Marvin also retrieves the coat and pre-coded walkie-talkie of one of Stuart’s men, allowing McClane to listen in and retort to Stuart directly. This gives McClane the chance to vent his anger on the man responsible for ruining his latest Christmas, though Colonel Stuart isn’t easily baited and out-thinks McClane at every turn. While Major Grant and McClane clash, McClane earns his begrudging respect after he helps storm Colonel Stuart’s church, raiding their operation and driving off Stuart’s men. This resolution is short-lived, however, when McClane realises he and Major Grant’s men were firing blanks the entire time. While Carmine again refuses to believe McClane’s claims, he’s forced to realise they’ve all been duped when McClane dramatically opens fire on Carmine (somehow not being gunned down by the cops present) to demonstrate his point and Carmine finally comes on side, giving McClane clearance to intercept the villains. While McClane treats Coleman with about as much respect as Colonel Stuart and has no time for her sniffing around for a story, she proves somewhat useful first in identifying Stuart and then in joining him in intercepting Stuart’s Boeing 747, giving McClane the chance to dramatically tackle the bad guys and end their plot.

While Holly returns, she’s far less of a factor and has far less agency this time around. She’s stuck in the air, as far out of McClane’s reach as before, but with even less control over her situation. While she communicates with McClane using an airphone, she has no idea why her landing has been delayed and only becomes concerned about the situation after the returning Dick Thornburg (William Atherton) points out the circling aircraft in the nearby skies. As obnoxious and grating as ever, Thornburg feels slighted and threatened by Holly since a right-hook to his jaw knocked out two of his teeth after he endangered her children in the last movie, leading him to take out a restraining order against her. While this earns Holly the admiration of Connie (Karla Tamburrell), an air hostess equally repulsed by Thornburg, Holly’s forced to endure his presence as the situation worsens. Ever the opportunist, Thornburg patches into the cockpit radio and learns of the situation, then remotely forces his way on-air to report on the situation live, selfishly thinking only of his career and not the panic it causes those waiting at Dulles Airport. As perceptive and feisty as her husband, Holly not only catches on that their situation is going to become a real problem due to lack of fuel but also retaliates against Thornburg once more by subduing him with a fellow passenger’s taser. Still, while Holly doesn’t get much else to do, it’s the drive to save her from plummeting to a fiery death that pushes McClane on downside. His personal stake in the events sees him aggressively interject himself into the situation and causes as much of the animosity he receives as his smart mouth, though McClane excels in a pressure situation and simply forces himself to fight harder or find other ways around problems, even if it means pissing off those in authority. The subtext of Die Hard 2 is lesser than the first, with more generic masculine and pseduo-sexual connotations, but the premise of this stubborn, determined “Everyman” fighting against the odds to save the woman he loves is strong, though I would’ve liked to see Holly have a more active role in the main plot.

This time, McClane is up against an opponent just as intelligent, ruthless, and heavily armed as Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) but one with the added benefit of a lifetime of military service and equally well-trained, incredibly loyal followers. A former Special Forces officer and one time student of Major Grant, the anti-communist Colonel Stuart strongly supported General Esperanza and even funded his operation, being dishonourably discharged and disgraced as a consequence. After fleeing the United States prior to his court martial, Colonel Stuart and the imprisoned General Esperanza plotted an elaborate scheme to hijack Dulles Airport, intercept Esperanza’s plan, and abscond to safety in a Boeing 747. A stoic, calculating martial arts expert, Colonel Stuart plans everything to the smallest detail, easily infiltrating Dulles Airport and hijacking their communications and power array and duplicating much of their control room in a nearby church. From here, Colonel Stuart and his men easily dupe the aircraft into thinking ground control is experiencing nothing more than heavy weather and effectively holds all incoming aircraft hostage, crashing them without a second’s thought whenever and reprisals are attempted. Though he doesn’t hesitate to take lives, even those of his men, Colonel Stuart reprimands Trudeau and McClane for not obeying his instructions and forcing his hand, indicating that he’s trying to rescue his beloved General with as little bloodshed as possible. His patience with McClane quickly wears thin, however, especially when John intercepts Esperanza’s aircraft and nearly brings him into custody. Aggravated that one stubborn cop could cause his meticulous plan so much trouble, Colonel Stuart has his men open fire on the craft and tosses a bunch of grenades in to take out McClane but is forced to flee when McClane miraculously survives thanks to his quick thinking. Colonel Stuart’s men are fiercely loyal; while they briefly hesitate upon being ordered to trick an aircraft into crashing, they obey his every word without question out of fear of his reprisals. Colonel Stuart’s joined by Major Grant, a deceptive and equally ruthless military man who slits newcomer Telford’s (Patrick O’Neal) throat just for not being “one of them” and aids in duping McClane to cover their escape. When push comes to shove, Colonel Stuart finally gets his hands dirty in a one-on-one fight with McClane, being far more physically capable than Gruber. He’s also much more in control of his emotions and motivated not by greed, but by a warped sense of patriotism and pride.

The Nitty-Gritty:
Die Hard is a Christmas movie. I don’t care what you say or think; it just is. Die Hard 2 is also a Christmas movie, but the season is far less of a factor in the plot. Seasonal jingles aren’t as prominent in Michael Kamen’s score and Christmas trappings aren’t as easily noticeable thanks to how bustling Dulles Airport is, but the entire crux of the plot is Holly coming home for Christmas and half the reason the weather is so bad is because we’re deep into the festive season. McClane does note that his bad luck constantly ruins the season for him, but this seems more emblematic of him than of the festive period. Indeed, Major Grant notes that McClane is in the “wrong place at the wrong time” during one of the many tirades launched against him for trying to help, and the situation only escalates as things spiral out of control. McClane is in a slightly better position this time around, though; he’s wearing shoes, for starters, is fully armed, and has more resources at his disposal to try and help. Unfortunately, he’s constantly hampered by those around him. Since Carmine doesn’t take his concerns seriously, Trudeau doesn’t prepare the control tower for a possible hijacking; since doors are constantly shut in his face, McClane can’t share his insight or opinion on the situation; and since Colonel Stuart is so resourceful and intelligent, the odds are stacked against him in a far greater way than before. This time, McClane battles to save not just his and Holly’s lives, but the lives of all the people on the planes unable to land because of Colonel Stuart. McClane might be selfishly driven to intervene to ensure Holly’s safety but he doesn’t just sit back and do nothing when Stuart hijacks a British airliner. He runs out onto the landing strip and desperately tries to do something, though this is of little comfort when his efforts inevitably fail. While Die Hard 2 is therefore more of a typical action/thriller and less of a tale of reclaiming masculinity and enforcing masculine power like the first film, some aspects of this still remain. Half the reason Vito, Carmine, and Major Grant clash with McClane is because they view him as a threat to their authority and masculinity. McClane is a loose cannon who shouts his opinion and acts impulsively, with little respect for local authority and the chain of command, which especially irks Carmine and equally annoys Major Grant, who believes McClane’s interference is doing more harm than good.

Ironically, even if McClane approached these figures with a more reasonable and respectful tone, it probably wouldn’t have helped since McClane is something of a celebrity now after his actions in Die Hard. This, and departmental xenophobia, are equally strong reasons for them to dislike McClane and dismiss his concerns, only to begrudgingly realise that he’s been the only one making sense the entire time, which is frustrating but still an improvement over the bungling police presence in the last film. While thematically and narratively very similar to Die Hard, Die Hard 2 broadens its scope for action set pieces; there are more characters involved so more opportunities for big shoot outs, with McClane even engaging in a snowmobile chase near the climax. However, I’ve never thought of Die Hard 2 as being “bigger” or “better” than the first one in terms of its action. It’s often far more explosive, that’s for sure; the plane crash is a notable set piece, as is the destruction of General Esperanza’s plane. However, it’s pretty obvious both are model and composite shots, making them ironically less impressive than McClane’s leap from the exploding Nakatomi helipad. McClane doesn’t get as many opportunities to throw hands this time; he always has his pistol and ammo on him, so he’s more apt to just gun down his foes with a wry remark, meaning we see less of McClane’s physical tenacity. However, this is supplanted by his “die hard” nature; he’s a stubborn cockroach of a man who won’t quit and keeps fighting even when met with a hail of gunfire. Ironically, he’s far less banged up and bloody than in the first film despite the greater odds against him and McClane’s resourceful nature comes not from finding innovative ways to kill his enemies but from finding creative ways to save lives, galvanising McClane into a more broadly heroic character. That’s not to say Die Hard 2 is tame, by any means: plenty of guys are executed by gunshot to the head, people are strangled, have their throat cut, and are riddled with bullets or blown to pieces. But it does feel far less personal this time around; before, McClane was desperately picking Gruber’s men off one by one but Colonel Stuart has far more men with far less memorable characteristics, so it just feels more generic when they’re killed rather than a rousing victory for our lone hero like before.

McClane is against a ticking clock throughout Die Hard 2. He only has ninety minutes before Holly’s plane runs out of fuel so he does everything he can to restore communications with the planes and find a way to negotiate her safety. He experiences ups and downs in this endeavour as Barnes does manage to contact the pilots, but McClane is intercepted by Colonel Stuart and his men before he can barter Esperanza’s life for Holly’s. The wounded General Esperanza escapes but things start to look up with Major Grant comes along and leads an all-out assault on Colonel Stuart’s church base, only to dupe McClane and the others with blanks and betray them to aid Stuart and Esperanza’s escape. With time running out and Holly’s plane preparing for an emergency landing, McClane finally gets the assistance he’s been demanding the entire movie and has Coleman’s pilot chase after the escaping villains. With no way to block the larger aircraft, McClane is forced to make a desperate drop to the wing on their Boeing 747 to try and stop them. Unlike the first movie, which ended with a tense showdown akin to an Old West duel between the exhausted McClane and the smug Gruber, Die Hard 2’s climax centres around bare-knuckle fistfights on the wing of a speeding aircraft trying to take off. Major Grant is the first to head out to put a beating on the outmatched McClane. However, thanks to his tenacity and resourcefulness, McClane manages to trip Major Grant and send him into a jet engine, splattering him across the plane and further screwing up Esperanza’s attempts to get off the ground. Thus, Colonel Stuart takes matters into his own hands and beats the shit out of McClane in a way Gruber could only dream of, finally kicking him to the speeding runway below. Returning inside to celebrate with his men, Colonel Stuart is completely oblivious to the fact that McClane opened the plane’s fuel valve. Bloodied and beaten, McClane delivers his “Yippie-ki-yay, Mister Falcon motherfucker!” catchphrase and tosses his lighter at the fuel trial, which naturally defies all physics and logic to burn into the plane and explode it in mid-air. As an added bonus, the flame trail and burning wreckage act as a marker for the planes to use to make a safe landing, reuniting McClane and Holly once more and bringing their latest Christmas drama to a close.

The Summary:
Die Hard is a Christmas tradition for me. I watch it every year and every year I enjoy it as much as the last time I watched it. Die Hard 2 also makes the Christmas watch list, but I’d be lying if I said I looked forward to it as much as the first movie. It’s not that it’s bad, really, just not as enjoyable or memorable as the first film. The atmosphere is both familiar and yet different, which is what you want from a sequel but something just feels off. Narrative beats, returning characters, and a sense of repetition help thematically link it to the first movie while also expanding upon the characters and setting. John McClane is far less beaten down than before, but no less tenacious; however, his character is noticeably different, largely because of the supporting cast. He’s face-to-face with the same type of bureaucrats who got in his way last time and we live his frustration with their dismissive attitude and his desperate attempts to do something while they sit around, stubbornly refusing to believe him due to their slighted pride. McClane is as resourceful and enjoyable as ever, delivering some wry quips and surviving some unbelievable situations, but he’s recast as a more typical heroic figure this time. Die Hard 2 isn’t just about saving a handful of hostages; it’s about saving thousands of lives from Colonel Stuart’s reprisals. It’s not about reclaiming masculinity; it’s about reinforcing it and a clash of “Alpha Male” figures and egos. Colonel Stuart exemplifies this; unlike Gruber, he’s a physical and intellectual challenge for McClane, after all. Oddly, despite its greater scope, I find Die Hard 2’s action to be lacking compared to the first. Things don’t feel as intimate and personal and a lot of the impact is dulled, as though everyone’s just going through the motions despite some enjoyable performances. In the end, I still watch Die Hard 2 at Christmas and still enjoy it, but I would much rather watch Die Hard twice or skip to one of the other sequels as they delivered a new challenge for McClane in a far more unique way than what we see here.

My Rating:

Great Stuff

Are you a fan of Die Hard 2? How do you think it compares to the first films? What did you think to Colonel Stuart and his cold-hearted depiction? Did you like seeing McClane face new challenges, especially following his infamy from the first movie? Were you also disappointed by the action sequences? Is Die Hard 2 on your Christmas watch list? What are your plans for Christmas Day today? Whatever your thoughts, feel free to comment down before and have a great Christmas!