DVD REVIEW FOR "DIE HARD 2: DIE HARDER" (1990) (Bruce Willis, William Sadler) (R)
Length
Screen Format(s)
Languages
Subtitles
Sound
Sides
124 minutes
Letterbox (2.35:1)
English French
English Spanish
Dolby Digital 5.1
1
Plot: A LA cop (Willis) tries to thwart the efforts of a group of terrorists (led by Sadler) who've seized control of an airport during Christmas, and have thus threatened his wife who's on one of the planes circling overhead that's running low on fuel.
(Parental Review currently not available -- but there's plenty of lethal violence, blood and profanity to warrant the R rating)
VIDEO:
(A-) A bit sharper looking than the picture quality on the original "Die Hard" release, the most notable thing about the quality of this disc is the extremely over saturated use of color in various scenes (much like the original, but taken to a greater extreme and used more often).
Like the original, however, this seems more a fault (albeit, intentionally done) of the original theatrical release instead of the transfer to DVD since it doesn't occur in every scene and varies in the ones in which it appears. Otherwise, the picture is quite sharp with plenty of detail, and only a few film artifacts and just a tiny bit of pixelation are present.
AUDIO:
(A+) The audio, on the other hand, and just like in the original, is excellent. Although the score isn't as inspired as in the first film, there's plenty of sonic elements to push one's audio system to its limits. From the constant rattle of gunfire to the bone-jarring explosions, the audio constantly sounds great.
EXTRAS:
Scene selection/Jump to any scene (with moving images).
Theatrical trailers for all three "Die Hard" films.
Slide Show -- 19 still images from the film.
Featurette -- Clips and interviews regarding the production (3+ minutes).
Cast filmographies and biographies.
COMMENTS:
A prime example of copying the formula of a successful film but forgetting the soul and spirit that made the original so much fun, this sequel to the original "Die Hard" may have the requisite action mayhem, but it's clearly inferior to the first film.
Perhaps realizing that it would be difficult to match the great villainous character from the original (as played by Alan Rickman), director Renny Harlin simply makes William Sadler a meaner, more sadistic villain. Although the effect works (as far as making the audience root against him), Sadler's military officer gone bad character simply can't match up to Rickman's brilliant portrayal.
As a result, the film just comes off more as violence for violence's sake and consequently simply isn't as much fun to watch (although it's not a task to do so if you're an action fan). Of special note are appearances by Dennis "NYPD Blue" Franz and Fred "now a U.S. Senator" Thompson.
Like the DVD release for the first film, this one's supplemental materials are nearly exactly the same (with a few more still images, but a shorter production featurette) and aren't particularly worth noting. Even so, fans of the series will still probably get a kick out of watching Willis kick some terrorist butt and the film does have some decent action sequences that keep it from falling too far into the shadow of its excellent predecessor.
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