Die Hard 2

One year after his Los Angeles showdown, John McClane is off duty and waiting at Washington Dulles Airport on a snowy Christmas Eve for his wife to land, when hijackers take control of the airport's communications and radar. The criminals want to ensure the arrival of a jailed South American general who faces drug charges, turning terminals and runways into a tense war zone while dozens of planes circle overhead. With airport police overwhelmed and federal teams hesitant to act, McClane moves through terminals and service corridors, improvising traps, confronting armed intruders, and racing against fuel gauges and bad weather to protect passengers and his wife. The film keeps the pressure high, trading long stretches of cat-and-mouse action for personal stakes and split-second decisions.

Directed by Renny Harlin and released in 1990, Die Hard 2 continues the saga of John McClane. The screenplay credits go to Steven E. de Souza and Doug Richardson, and the story is adapted from Walter Wager's novel 58 Minutes, refashioned around Bruce Willis's returning character.

The movie was a solid commercial success on release, performing well enough to justify further sequels and to cement the Die Hard name as a dependable box office draw. Its strong opening and mainstream appeal showed studios there was still appetite for big-stakes, high-concept action tied to a recognizable lead.

Die Hard 2 helped reinforce the image of McClane as the gritty, sarcastic everyman who handles extraordinary danger with grit and moral stubbornness. The airport siege and runway sequences became frequently cited examples of large-scale set piece construction, and the film kept the idea of holiday-set action in the public eye, influencing later entries in the franchise and other action projects that lean on contained, time-sensitive threats.

Audience ratings sit at a user vote average of 6.964/10 (6198 votes), reflecting mixed-to-positive sentiment. Reviewers tended to praise the film's kinetic action choreography and tense pacing while criticizing its reliance on the original's template. Major themes include individual resilience against organized violence, institutional limits under pressure, and the personal costs of heroism, all framed by severe weather and bureaucratic hurdles.