Yes, it has been a while, yes, Christmas is over, and yes this is my favourite Christmas movie. By the time this review goes live, it will be the day after boxing day. Before I go on, let me just say, I am not a huge fan of Christmas Movies. The one and only exemption is and always will be Jon Favreau's masterpiece: Elf. Christmas movies, especially if they are really modern, do not have the most compelling plots. Literally, every Christmas movie is based around the same sappy message, and ya boy is not here for it. Because it's the Christmas season, and because I haven't written a review in a while, I thought why not let's review Die Hard 2. Die Hard 1 & 2 are beautiful gifts from the Christmas gods on high. If it were not for the Die Hard series, we would be stuck with a Christmas story and anything by Robert Zemeckis. There are just not that many watchable Christmas movies out there in my opinion.

John McClane is once again caught up in a terrorist hostage embargo, and it's up to him to save a bunch of people including his wife. Like the prequel, this film takes place during Christmas. On paper, this film delivers something very creative. At the end of the day, a cop action thriller is just another cop action thriller. The charm of Die Hard, in part, is due to the fact that it knows what it is trying to be.

Die Hard 2 (1990) has everything: terrorists, new-york accents in DC, and an old lady with a taser who's not afraid to use it. One of the reasons I'm talking about the sequel vs the original Die Hard is the fact that the sequel is more fun to talk about. Yes, I know Alan Rickman is in the prequel, and yes I know Die Hard 1 has more catchy quotes, but we are leaving that off to the side. Die Hard 2 takes everything they did well the first film and placed it in an airport. If the film is not broken, don't fix it. The original formula from Die Hard is all here: action, charm, tention, stakes, and best of all humour. This film capitalizes on the chaos an airport already exudes. There is a lot going on in the film, but they are evenly woven together like an orchestra. John McClane played by Bruce Willis is really just the cherry on top of a great screenplay.

This screenplay was written specifically to keep the viewer interested. DIalogue is treated as to present the most relatable character dynamics possible. And that is really where this film shines. The writing is memorable and sharp. The pace of the film is evenly distributed to present the best possible narrative. Take for example the first act, John McClane our hero has something to do with every single subplot. There is not a single story thread that is out of place that does not lead up in some way to the deunemont.

Having said that, this film is for someone who just wants an engaging action film disguised as a Christmas movie. One of the major flaws holding this film back, is of course the visuals. We need to talk about our visuals. I love 4K content. I love my 4K HDR content just as much as the next guy. However, this film's colour palette is nothing to write home about. This is a boys night in movie, hence this film's colour palette is just a mush of grey and brown. Again, this flaw is only something I point out because we live in a time of hyper-visual movies.

I give Die Hard 2 a B+