FAQ for
Die Hard 2 (1990) More at IMDbPro »

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags have been used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for Die Hard 2 can be found here.

Yes. Die Hard 2 (aka Die Harder, was based on 58 Minutes (1987), a novel by American writer Walter Wager. Roderick Thorp, the author of Nothing Lasts Forever (1979) on which the first Die Hard (1988) movie was based, was given credit for creating the characters. Wager's novel was adapted for the film by American screenwriters Steven E. de Souza and Doug Richardson. Die Hard 2 was followed by two sequels, Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) and Live Free or Die Hard (2007).

Based on clues in the movie, Die Hard 2 takes place two years after Die Hard, which was released in 1988. Holly mentions, during her phone call to John, as he waits for her plane to arrive at the airport, that it is 'the 90s...microchips, microwaves, faxes, and air phones' Also, when Al Powell checks the data on Sergeant Cochrane, he finds that Cochrane died November 5th 1988 and says it was "two years ago", placing the current movie in 1990.

As in Die Hard, it is Christmas eve, and LAPD Lieutenant John McClane (Bruce Willis) is waiting at Washington D.C.'s Dulles Airport to pick up his wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) on her way from Los Angeles. At the same time, a plane is arriving from the Republic of Valverde carrying deposed dictator and drug baron Ramon Esperanza (Franco Nero), who is being extradicted to theUnited States to stand trial on charges of drug trafficking. Meanwhile, a team of mercenaries led by Colonel Stuart (William Sadler) has contrived to shutdown the airport's runway lights and its Instrument Landing System (ILS), forcing the arriving airplanes to circle the airport until they run out of gas. Sensing that something big is about to happen, McClane attempts to alert airport terminal police Captain Carmine Lorenzo (Dennis Franz) about his suspicions, but Lorenzo doesn't believe him. Consequently, McClane is forced to take things into his own hands.

Because Corporal Telford (Patrick O'Neal) was just that...a new guy on the Blue Light team, brought in the day before as a last minute replacement. He wasn't in on the plan to free Esperanza. Therefore, he had to be silenced.

WZDC Reporter Richard Thornburg (William Atherton) had managed to tape a communication between Dulles' chief engineer Leslie Barnes (Art Evans) and the circling aircraft. Thornburg then went live with the tape, and his broadcast was being played on TVs throughout the airport, causing a mass panic amongst the people waiting in the terminal. Realizing what Thornburg was doing, Holly grabbed her seatmate's taser, broke into the lavatory, and zapped Thornburg in order to shut him up.

Air controllers had already instructed all airplanes headed for Dulles Airport, outside of the Dulles approach, and those with sufficient fuel to divert to their alternate airports, leaving 13 airplanes within the outer markers, all beginning to run low on fuel. Those within Dulles approach were instructed to continue circling the airport until landing and communication systems can be restored at which point they will be instructed to land on a fuel emergency basis. When Barnes is finally able to restore voice communication (by using the outer marker beacons), he informs the circling planes that terrorists are controlling the runway lights, ILS system, and tower communications and that the pilots are not to obey any instructions sent to them on tower frequency unless accompanied by their own flight recorder access code. Although the movie does not provide any further explanations, it is possible that the pilots of those 13 airplanes (at least, those with enough fuel) took it upon themselves to divert to a nearby airport, assuming there were other nearby airports that hadn't also shut down due to the storm. Those without enough fuel to safely reach another airport were, of necessity, forced to remain in Dulles approach and continue circling.

Major Grant (/nm0025309) and his troops meet Esperanza and Stuart in Hangar 11 where their 747 sits waiting for them. McClane asks WNTW reporter Samantha Coleman (Sheila McCarthy) for a lift in their helicopter in return for giving her an exclusive story. As the 747 taxis down the runway, preparing to take off, the WNTW helicopter hovers just above it, allowing McClane to leap out onto the wing. He blocks the wing flap with his jacket, forcing Grant to come out on the wing in order to remove it. McClane overpowers Grant, who is sucked into the engine and ripped apart. McClane opens the airplane's fuel cap, and gas begins to leak on the ground just as Stuart comes out on the wing and knocks McClane off. McClane pulls out a cigarette lighter and ignites the trail of fuel. As the 747 leaves the ground, the burning trail of fuel causes the plane to explode. Meanwhile, the pilot of Holly's airplane notifies the control tower that they are out of fuel and must attempt an emergency landing. The pilots of Holly's plane see the fuel trail on the runway and use it as a guide to land the plane. The rest of the circling airplanes follow suit. As the passengers begin exiting the plane using the evacuation slide, McClane runs up calling Holly's name. When Holly sees him, she runs into his arms. In the final scene, Marvin (Tom Bower), the airport janitor, offers them a ride off the tarmac just as Captain Lorenzo drives up in his squad car. Lorenzo tears up McClane's ticket, because '...it's Christmas!'

John McTiernan was offered the chance to direct this sequel, but declined, in order to direct The Hunt for Red October. Renny Harlin had worked on pre-production for a third Alien film for Fox for about a year or so in 1989 before walking away due to its troubled development stage. Instead of directing Alien 3, Harlin was offered Die Hard 2 (1990) by producer Joel Silver who had previously worked with Harlin.

Compared to the workprint, the common known R-rated version lacks some plot sequences, as well as some violence-cuts, that probably were required for the US R-rating A detailed comparison between the R-Rated version and the Unrated version can be found here.

To get the BBFC 15, almost any violent scene needed to be shortened. Moreover the word "F*ck" has been removed from the audio track and replaced by more harmless words here and there. The Uncut Version got the BBFC 18 rating and is also available. A comprehensive list of what is missing from the '15' version can be found here, partway down the page here.