Is This A Christmas Movie? ‘Die Hard 2’

Inspired by the annual debate about whether or not Die Hard should be considered a Christmas movie, Is This A Christmas Movie? is a limited series that tries to determine whether or not some famous films set at Christmas should be considered Christmas movies.

Every year, the same argument: Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? The short answer: “Yes, of course.” (Editor’s Note: Decider’s own Brett White vehemently disagrees.) The longer answer: The 1988 film Die Hard is one of the greatest action movies of the 1980s, or any decade. It combines an inventive premise — one man against a brigade of terrorists in a Los Angeles high-rise — with beautifully staged action sequences and a charismatic Bruce Willis performance that proved he could be more than a wisecracking TV star. Beyond this, it’s in a long tradition of movies that use the Christmas season as a turning point, a moment between the end of one year and the beginning of the next when characters are forced to reflect on their lives and what really matters as they confirm the bonds of togetherness that bind them to those they love. John McClane’s mission in Die Hard isn’t to kill a bunch of terrorists. His mission is to reconcile with his wife. The terrorists are a distraction. He kicks their ass and then finishes what he came to L.A. to do in the first place: put his family back together. Willis himself may not believe it’s a Christmas movie, but the evidence is there on the screen.

Let’s move on to a less frequently asked question: Is Die Hard 2: Die Harder a Christmas movie?

The most obvious answer would seem to be yes: if Die Hard is a Christmas movie, then Die Hard 2, its 1990 sequel, must be as well. After all, it’s a thriller set against the backdrop of the Christmas season featuring many of the same characters (and some of the same action beats). But hold up a moment. That might not be enough.

The opening scenes make a strong argument on the pro-Christmas movie side. Outside Washington D.C.’s Dulles airport, snow falls from the sky and you can even spot a Santa and some reindeer in the background. But all is not calm or bright: McClane argues with an airport policeman in the process of towing his in-law’s car. His closing argument, after trying to bond with him over their shared profession: “Come on man, it’s Christmas.”

It’s not enough. The car gets towed, sending McClane back into an airport filled with overly cheery carolers, but also a troubling news report regarding General Esperanza (Franco Nero), the dictator of a fictional Latin American country who’s soon to stand trial for drug trafficking in the U.S. Or will he? It turns out Esperanza has some powerful friends, including but not limited to the American Colon Stuart (William Sadler), who’s introduced working out in the nude in his hotel room in preparation for a super-elaborate terrorist scheme that will, if all goes well, free Esperanza and send his co-conspirators off to a life of ill-gotten riches.

Meanwhile, McClane’s wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) is making her way to D.C. from L.A. via a transcontinental flight. But no worries: She can use a plane phone to page her husband and, after waiting to use a pay phone, he can call her back. Later, McClane will follow up a lead by sending a fax. The year 1990 was truly one of new technological wonders.

Almost immediately, McClane starts to sense something’s amiss and has way too much trouble convincing an airport police captain played by Dennis Franz that he should listen to him, even after trotting out a tortured metaphor involving metal detectors and feces. And, almost as immediately, the film mostly forgets about Christmas. Sure, the sets are filled with poinsettias and McClane makes friends with a janitor who enjoys listening to Christmas music, but the holiday starts to feel incidental.

That’s true of the original Die Hard too, at least superficially. After all, it’s hard to be in the Christmas spirit when there are machine guns to fire and floors covered in broken glass to run across. But, beneath all that, the John McTiernan-directed original remains a story of reconciliation. In the original, Willis played McClane as a man who’s scared of losing his wife even before the bad guys show up, and it’s that fear that drives him to fight back. He’s an unusually vulnerable hero who hates flying and seems truly afraid he’s not going to make it through the night alive — even more so if you can forget the many, many action movies Willis has made in the years and put yourself in the place of moviegoers who knew him best as that guy from Moonlighting and wine cooler ads.

By the time of Die Hard 2, Willis had started to seem much less like an everyman, and so did McClane. (If nothing else, how anyone can smoke that much and not get winded running through an airport?) Here he has to rescue his wife again, who won’t make it down from the sky unless he shuts down yet another batch of terrorists. “How can the same shit happen to the same guy twice?,” he says early in the movie, and he might as well be winking at the camera as he does it. But it’s not exactly the same shit. His marriage is fine. There’s nothing to repair in his personal life and no reflection to be done, only asses to kick. At the film’s climax, McClane cackles as he sends the bad guys to a fiery death in the sky. It’s not exactly a “God bless us every one!” moment, but at least he gets his parking ticket torn up.

VERDICT: Not a Christmas movie. Die Hard 2 is an above average thriller in the big, ultraviolent, mode of its era that benefits from Willis’ charisma and the skillful, unrestrained direction of Renny Harlin, but look elsewhere for the Christmas spirit.

NEXT WEEK: Batman Returns

Keith Phipps writes about movies and other aspects of pop culture. You can find his work in such publications as The Ringer, Rolling Stone, Vulture, and The Verge. Keith also co-hosts the podcasts The Next Picture Show and Random Movie Night and lives in Chicago with his wife and child. Follow him on Twitter at @kphipps3000.

Where to stream Die Hard 2