Officer John McClane (Bruce Willis) is back with the same game plan on a grander stage, Washington Dulles Airport. With his wife (Bonnie Bedelia) in danger, he's pissing off the security experts, squirming through the airport's entrails, punishing his body, and frustrating a new evil mastermind, Col. Stuart (William Sadler). As his wife said, "Why do these things keep happening to us?"
A franchise is reborn, crowning its champion. Remember the Iran hostage crisis that spilled into the 80s? President Reagan tried to mend things, but we still suffered as the world's punching bag with the Beirut bombings of the Marine barracks bombings of 1983 and the spread of communism into Central America the same decade. Who can bail us out of such Vietnam trauma? McClane is that hero. The excellent writing for this is attributed in both films to Steven E. de Souza, with Doug Richardson sharing this script.
That's why Die Hard can never be matched using the same blueprint. McClane continues to interrupt international plans for mayhem since Col. Stuart was trying to secure the landing of escaped Gen. Ramon Esperanza (Franco Nero), a corrupt dictator being brought to justice ala Noriega. Yet, this movie secures itself as a cult series by raising the intensity. McClane's job is harder. Now he's trying to save an international airport and battle with more bureaucrats and rank and file employees. He's attempting to stop jumbo jets not helicopters. And yes, there is more human collateral damage.
The ending is sensationalism that works, uttering anew from me a huge whoop! The movie feeds into your raw gut emotions activated by growing up in those decades. Sensations so strong, my teen is a follower too after viewing: fighting a tow and parking ticket to the end, wife in peril, janitor wisdom, and good ol' mouse and dagger. Definitely, rewatchable at the Winning 25 yd. Line.
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