Die Hard: Die Harder

Imagine being overwhelmed by action. That's what it was like for me the first time I turned on the television and saw the broadcast television premier of "Die Hard: Die Harder." "Die Hard:Die Harder" is a sequel to Die Hard, being the second installation of a very high climaxed action-packed movie. This was the first one that I had seen and I enjoyed it so much that I was given the trilogy as a Christmas gift off of my wish list at Amazon.com.

The main character of the movie is John McClane played by Bruce Willis. John McClane is a tough and brave sport. He is strong and mentally ready to take on a challenge. He is that take control type of dude not intimidated by nothing or no one.

His story: He was once a New York City police officer. His wife Holly played by Bonnie Bedelia finds a job and decides to take it, though it being in California. She leaves to start a life with their 2 daughters in California, despite McClane's decision to stay in New York City to fight crime. After becoming a hero when saving a plethora of people at the Nagasaki building from terrorists in the original movie "Die Hard", he moves to California to be with his family and becomes an officer for the L.A.P.D.

Like Die Hard, Die Hard: Die Harder begins on Christmas Eve in an airport, though this being in Dulles airport in Washington D.C. as opposed to L.A. International Airport. The whole movie is based in Dulles airport.

McClane awaits the arrival of his wife and comes into a few problems. First, a really annoying cop tows away his car for parking in a tow away zone and helps to start his Christmas off not so good. Second, he gets one of his gut instinct that something is not right when he sees a group of suspicious individuals in the wrong place at the wrong time. He starts to act on it immediately because his gut feelings are usually right. Third, Holly is on a plane among a number of planes stuck in the air with very little fuel because of the nasty weather and because of that gut feeling that McClane got being right on the money.

A group of unauthorized individuals walk into a baggage area which is restricted and usually locked off. McClane, using his intelligence, goes in after them to make sure that they are not going to engage in foul play and a war with guns starts between him and the enemies. McClane is no joke though because he sees his target and goes after them and usually comes out with his hand raised high like the Statue of Liberty. When the unauthorized individuals get thrown off their agenda and instead are being shipped in body bags, McClane takes their fingerprints and faxes them to Sgt. Al Powell (played by Reginald Veljohnson whom became good friends with him in the first Die Hard) to find out whom he was dealing with. Bruce Willis reminded me of McGyver and it kind of gave me a stronger feeling of excitement to know what would happen next.

Terrorists have invaded Dulles Airport and have plotted to take it over. Their reason: An international criminal named General Ramon Esperanza played by Franco Nero, is flying into Dulles airport. He has been detained because of his vice and is en route to be tried for drug-related crimes. Franco plays his character as it is real. He has that attitude that he has power because of whom he is and puts that portrayal of a ruthless person on the front.

The terrorist action is being lead by former Army Colonel Stewart played by William Sadler whom plays a mean character who has no interest for anything but to cause hysteria and chaos. Stewart reminded me of a gang leader ready to take out one of his crew members if he didn't complete his assigned task.

Stewart shows who is boss when he cuts off the main power at the Airport and on the runways making it hard and impossible for planes to land because there were no lights or tower to guide them except that of Stewart whom assumed status of Airport controller. Stewart advises them not to try to restore power and after an attempt to that ended with McClane taking out some of Stewart's men, Stewart made sure that they knew that he means business. He was not going to let anything get in the way of gaining freedom for Esperanza. Because of their attempt to restore power, Stewart tapped into the main power and gave clearance to Windsor Flight 114 for landing and crashed their plane with 240 passengers in it.

Dulles airport has one good thing on their side and that is McClane. With McClane's wit and tactics, he is able to sidetrack Stewarts plans. The one thing that stands in McClane's way, Airport police chief Lorenzo Carmine played by Dennis Franz, of "NYPD Blue." Carmine plays the jealous and stubborn cop who doesn't want to listen to reason or to allow some cop not under his jurisdiction to direct his path of leadership. Carmine kind of got on my nerves a little bit because he was always in McClane's face and while McClane was doing nothing but trying to make sure 230 or more people weren't victims of terrorism, Carmine just kept looking at him as a distraction and not as someone who would really bring results, though McClane continued to prove himself.

Stewart requested an isolated land where Esperanza's plane could land and they chose the Annex skywalk. McClane befriends Marvin the janitor, whom shows him the layout of the entire Airport. Marvin even gives him ways to get onto the runways without being detected by going through the air ducts. What made this movie interesting was all the dilemmas that came to play because you had to see what daring and bold move Bruce Willis would do to get himself out of another sticky situation, and there were many.

I liked how Die Hard: Die Harder used the idea of the media pushing to get a good story. As opposed to Die Hard, there were 2 key reporters. Sam Koleman from WKCH whom is at Dulles airport from the time when McClane put the first terrorist he encountered in the body bag, whom ends up being an accomplice to McClane's success in defeating the terrorists. The other was the same annoying reporter, Dick Thornton whom angered me a little in Die Hard, but really got me made in Die Hard: Die Harder. His character is obnoxious and very sly always trying to get to a story first regardless of how it might effect the people around him.

When I first saw this movie, I was so awed by it that I didn't even want to get up until the movie was over. It was almost as if I was actually at the theatre because of how it struck me as such a strong movie that I must have been destined to see. Every time I see it is like the first time I saw it because I see something in it that I had never seen before.

Throughout all 131 minutes of this movie, I was met with smiles, shock, laughter and surprise. For a sequel, it really held my attention to the T. I loved Bruce Willis' character and attitude. Full of action and great scenes, this movie clinched the second spot on my favorite movies list with, The Sound of Music being the first.