Die Hard 2
First rewatch in 15-20 years and I'm surprised by how much I dig this. <PERSON> reputation precedes him and casts a pall over the film, but honestly this is a pretty solid, often great, action film. It goes without saying that it lacks the magic that <PERSON> brought to the first and third installments. But DIE HARD 2 is maybe the greatest example of a sequel cash-in that merely restages everything about the first. Coming off of my first rewatch of HOME ALONE 2 in nearly 30 years, I was shocked by how lifeless and lazy it retraces the formula of the first, much like THE HANGOVER PART II. But DIE HARD 2 really makes the most of copy-pasting it's predecessor into a new, more sprawling locale. It also helps that this one minimizes the returning supporting cast and features a killer new line-up of characters (<PERSON>! <PERSON>! <PERSON>! <PERSON>!). 995
And while the villain of the Colonel is nowhere near as dynamic as either <PERSON>, <PERSON> breathes life into such an underwritten role.
It's politics are more fascinating than the film itself and stands as a crucial example of how most films have incoherent ideologies. By the measure of today's woke liberal cultural analysis, this technically qualifies as copaganda, and like most every action film it's values are right-wing conservative. But DIE HARD 2 constantly oscillates between a pro and anti stance on everything it depicts. <PERSON> is an individualist supercop, while the other officers are bureaucratic buffoons. The military is both the villain and savior (only later revealed to be a ruse). But it's pro-authoritarian individualism is also steeped in an anti anti-communism, with it's entire plot revolving around the murderous insanity of American military cold war beliefs (the plot is literally a US army officer murdering countless civilians to protect a CIA-backed right wing fascist who killed communists). But that's not to say that this is pro-communism. Even it's depiction of the media is confusing and mercurial: journalism creates panic, gets in the way of authority, but also can be a force for good? If anything, this might be the perfect text on the confusion and contradictions of American individualism, one that worships systems of authority while conveniently making them the enemy when they challenge the supercop individual. 952