Die Hard 2

To be perfectly honest, I was skeptical about "Die Hard 2." Not for the standard reason that sequels are usually inferior to their predecessors, but because "Die Hard" was so clearly a "a director's picture."

John McTiernan, who earlier directed "Predator" and later gave us "The Hunt for Red October," was obviously the guiding force that made the first "Die Hard" such an exceptionally exciting thriller.

But, like the inferior "RoboCop 2," which also had a different director taking over the reigns after a well-crafted original (Paul Verhoeven moved on to "Total Recall"), I expected "Die Hard 2" to suffer.

Especially since the only earlier film credit listed for the new "Die Hard 2" director, Renny Harlin, was "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master," which, as regular readers know, is not exactly my favorite film series.

But doggone if Harlin doesn't pull it off. And he even manages to correct a few — though not all — of the first film's missteps.

For the uninitiated, "Die Hard" was an action-packed thriller focusing on New York cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) and his single-handed battle against terrorists (who turn out not to be terrorists) in a Los Angeles high-rise office building on Christmas Eve.

The film was loaded with slam-bang sequences that had audience members gritting their teeth and grabbing the arms of people sitting next to them — whether or not they came in together. It was "Indiana Jones" as a modern-day cop in a claustrophobic setting. And, as with the best thrillers, the rapid-fire pace kept us from scrutinizing the plot.

So it is with "Die Hard 2," also loaded with plausibility problems, but so fast a mover that we can't think about it. And that's all to the good.

The setting this time is Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., where McClane is going to pick up his wife (Bonnie Bedelia) during a visit with her parents.

Almost immediately we are introduced to the chief villain, a renegade military officer who has an elaborate plan to interrupt the airport's communications and take control of landing all planes in order to rescue a Latin American dictator/drug kingpin.

The ever-suspicious McClane spots some shady characters in the airport's luggage loading areas and before you can say "machine gun," the thrills begin.