Bruce Willis, William Atherton and Bonnie Bedelia in the Renny Harlin movie ‘Die Hard 2’

With the theory that movies set with references to Christmas as part of the underpinnings for establishing the story might be Christmas movies, we return to the action thriller sequel to Die Hard (1988) with the Renny Harlin directed movie Die Hard 2 (1990). This movie is set on Christmas Eve with the main context for the movie being Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia.

(From left, Bruce Willis as John McClane and Dennis Franz as Captain Carmine Lorenzo in the Renny Harlin movie Die Hard 2).

With the movie Die Hard 2 having been based on the book 58 Minutes by Walter Wager, we encounter John McClane awaiting the arrival of his wife, Holly, on a flight arriving at the airport. McClane, as portrayed by Bruce Willis, uses his intuition as a lieutenant in the Los Angeles Police Department to act on his suspicions that a pair of men are behaving erratically. In following the men into a restricted space for sorting baggage, a gun fight ensues with just two of the three men in the encounter escaping with their lives. Bonnie Bedelia portrayed Holly, John’s wife.

(From left, William Atherton as Dick Thornburg and Bonnie Bedelia as Holly Gennero McClane in the Renny Harlin movie Die Hard 2).

The men confronted in the restricted area are part of a plan aimed at freeing corrupt foreign military leader General Ramon Esperanza, who is being extradited to from outside the country by airplane to Dulles International Airport. With the help of Sergeant Al Powell of the LAPD, John McClane learns that the man he killed was an American soldier who supposedly died in a helicopter accident two years previously. Airport police chief, Carmine Lorenzo, and air traffic control director Ed Trudeau find McClane’s suspicions unlikely when he reports what he knows. Franco Nero, Reginald VelJohnson, Dennis Franz and Fred Thompson portrayed Esperanza, Powell, Lorenzo and Trudeau, respectively.

(From left, Reginald VelJohnson as Al Powell, Fred Thompson as Trudeau and John Amos as Major Grant in the Renny Harlin movie Die Hard 2).

Former Colonel William Stuart, meanwhile, works with a group of ex-military sympathizers on the outskirts of the airport in support of causing chaos among the team operating the airport. Thrills, twists and turns follow the initial baggage claim scene with the motivations of Major Grant, Dick Thornburg and others coming into question. The seeds of McClane seizing the initiative, as cultivated with the original Die Hard movie, bears fruit during the blizzard and flight control issues that follow the shenanigans intended by Stuart and the team allied with Ramon Esperanza. William Sadler, John Amos and William Atherton portrayed Stuart, Grant and Thornburg, respectively.

(From left, Franco Nero as General Ramon Esperanza, Vondie Curtis-Hall as Miller and William Sadler as Colonel William Stuart in the Renny Harlin movie Die Hard 2).

The central appeal for the movie Die Hard is first and foremost the action and intrigue. The undercurrent of humor present with the original movie were downplayed with the sequel, though I found the movie did not require the humor to remain engaging. I grant Die Hard 2 as directed by Renny Harlin 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Saturday, December 3, 2022

Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman and Bonnie Bedelia in the John McTiernan movie ‘Die Hard’

It’s not every day that an action and thriller movie is set against the backdrop of a holiday. It has become more common to see moves themed as romances or romantic comedies set against Christmas. The John McTiernan directed Die Hard (1988) managed to mix the action thriller against a Christmas gathering. Today, we look into the happenings at the fictional Nakatomi Plaza.

(Bruce Willis as John McClane, a New York City police detective in the John McTiernan movie Die Hard).

Die Hard is set in Los Angeles, where police officer John McClane hopes to reconcile with his wife during a holiday party hosted by the employer of his estranged wife, Holly Gennero-McClane. Bruce Willis portrayed John McClane opposite Bonnie Bedelia‘s portrayal of Holly Gennero-McClane. The employer is Nakatomi Corporation, which is due to be robbed during the very event where John hopes to reconcile with Holly.

(From left, Dennis Hayden as Eddie, Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber, the leader of the terrorists and Bonnie Bedelia as Holly Gennero-McClane, a Nakatomi executive and John’s estranged wife in the John McTiernan movie Die Hard).

The movie quickly turns from a from a romantic comedy staged against a Christmas backdrop when the robbers with a violent streak, led by Hans Gruber, present the Nakatomi Plaza with a terrorist plot to rob the Nakatomi Corporation at their plaza, triggering the action thriller that we come to see. Alan Rickman portrayed Hans Gruber. Dennis Hayden portrayed one of Gruber’s henchmen, Eddie.

(From left, Alexander Godunov as Karl, Gruber’s second-in-command and Clarence Gilyard Jr. as Theo, Gruber’s tech specialist in the John McTiernan movie Die Hard).

Clarence Gilyard Jr. and Alexander Godunov serve as a pair of Gruber’s henchmen, portrayed from early in the story of Die Hard in setting the thievery and underlying action in motion. The Los Angeles Police Department joins the response to the plot in motion, supported first by sergeant Al Powell and later by deputy chief Dwayne T. Robinson. Paul Gleason portrayed Robinson as Reginald VelJohnson portrayed Powell.

(From left, Reginald VelJohnson as Al Powell, an LAPD sergeant and Paul Gleason as Dwayne T. Robinson, the LAPD Deputy Chief in the John McTiernan movie Die Hard).

John McClane had arrived at Nakatomi Plaza in a limousine driven by a man named Argyle. Argyle, portrayed by De’voreaux White, agreed to wait for John as he went to reconcile with his wife Holly. He waits on scene as the events of the movie progress, offering humor through miscommunication with McClane accompanied by other opportunities to support the story.

(De’voreaux White as Argyle, John’s limousine driver in John McTiernan‘s Die Hard).

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) plays a part in seeking to respond to the terrorist robbery plot of the movie, offering a jurisdictional power play with the Los Angeles Police Department that was the first formally requested responding agency on scene. FBI actions geared at ending the plot actually advance the plot, with the actions of Argyle, Al Powell and John McClane each championing a decisive under current that is championed throughout Die Hard. Grand L. Bush portrayed FBI Special Agent Little Johnson as Robert Davi portrayed FBI Special Agent Big Johnson in the movie.

(From left, actor Grand L. Bush, Director John McTiernan and actor Robert Davi on the set of the John McTiernan movie Die Hard).

The central appeal for the movie Die Hard is first and foremost the action, intrigue and thriller qualities of the story. The compelling undercurrent of humor juxtaposed against incompetence as roadblocks to the central robbery succeeding or failing, both externally to stopping the robbery and internally to the stealing, add substantially to what works well. I grant Die Hard as directed by John McTiernan 4-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Wednesday, December 1, 2021

Arnold Schwarzenegger and the movie ‘The Running Man’

Did you know that Stephen King wrote books under a pseudonym? Richard Bachman was the perhaps poorly known pseudonym for Stephen King when the movie portrayal of the Richard Bachman book came to movie theaters as the movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger The Running Man (1987).

(Richard Dawson as Damon Killian, left, and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Ben Richards in the movie The Running Man).

Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as wrongly convicted Ben Richards, who must try to survive a public execution gauntlet staged as a game show. Richard Dawson stars as the host and runner of that show, Damon Killian. The premise underpinning the show is that society is corrupt, and a way for the governing power structure to keep the populous under control is to control the message of the system while entertaining the population through television, game shows, and real violence in the name of entertaining the public.

(Maria Conchita Alonso as Amber Mendez, top, Yaphet Kotto as William Laughlin in the movie The Running Man).

Members in opposition to that government control, include Amber Mendez (as portrayed by Maria Conchita Alonso) and William Loughlin (as portrayed by Yaphet Kotto). Mendez and Loughlin are unwittingly drawn into the gauntlet game show and allied with Richards, though Mendez begins the movie unaware of the government ruse and Richards’ victimization by it.

(Jesse Ventura as Captain Freedom, top, Professor Toru Tanaka as Subzero in the movie The Running Man).

The ostensible entertainment factor of the game show is that there are recurring figures within the game show tasked with bringing about the public executions that are featured within the dystopian reality of this game show world. Subzero, Buzzsaw, Dynamo, Fireball and Captain Freedom were five of the stars called into the gauntlet against Ben Richards, the combat veteran with the skills to flip the script and physically run the gauntlet in of the game show within the movie The Running Man.

(Jim Brown as Fireball, top left, Erland van Lidth as Dynamo, bottom left, and Gus Rethwisch as Buzzsaw, right, in the movie The Running Man).

For fans of the perhaps more popular and more fully developed trilogy of books that became three films, namely The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, the Bachman book The Running Man with the movie discussed here is an inspired conception for what came later. While the target audiences for the two are arguably different given the way the goals of the stories and characters populating them, the core development of the action between the two larger stories suggests a conceptual relationship. A core difference between the two is that notions for how the genders relate to each other, in the movie The Running Man for sure, uses tropes that were more prevalent in the 1980s.

(Stephen King circa 1987, from the jacket of the book Misery).

For me, The Running Man was entertaining on the level that a cult classic movie is entertaining. The fare is not going to contend for any movie awards, nor is it really best in genre for the type of story that it aimed to tell. The story itself moved things along well, and from the level of offering rooting interests as well as characters to cheer for or against, the movie worked. From that perspective, The Running Man movie earns a rating of 3.25-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Saturday, August 3, 2019