Be it resolved: Die Hard 2 is a greater Christmas film than its predecessor

Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? There are those among us who have been arguing as much for 30 years. So common is Die Hard a response to inquiries about the greatest ever holiday films that it has aroused tides of mock debate, a strained controversy pursued on social media annually that last year prompted a number of people involved in the movie to weigh in — screenwriter Steven de Souza advocating for holiday-movie status, star Bruce Willis against. But while the nominal Yuletide trimmings that confirm Die Hard’s qualifications are meagre enough to breed doubt, there seems radically less ambiguity about the spirit of its sequel, 1990’s Die Hard 2.

It may be too obvious to excite much disagreement, but be it resolved: Die Hard 2 is a Christmas movie.

Let us examine the evidence. To begin with, Die Hard 2 replicates much from its predecessor: same wisecracking, blue-collar hero, called to action by extraordinary circumstance and bad luck; same scowling cabal of nefarious international terrorists conspiring to orchestrate a high-stakes coup; same selfcontained, enclosed urban setting, this time a major airport rather than a downtown office tower, again in the harried throes of the Christmas rush.

What refinements have been made greatly improve its case. While Die Hard took place in Los Angeles, whose temperate climes made its December backdrop rather balmy; Die Hard 2 takes place at the Washington Dulles Airport in Virginia, where the temperature hovers just below zero this time of year. Die Hard 2 gleams throughout with heavy, luminous snow that perfectly conjures a holiday atmosphere.

Much is likewise added by the complexion of the milieu. Airports gain something in severity and emotion during the holidays, when travel seems fraught and profoundly urgent; the frenzied energy of the terminal crowd, at once buoyant with Yuletide cheer and on edge with time-sensitive fervour, is unmistakable at a glance, instantly familiar to us all in character and mood.

Die Hard 2 captures this feeling. Indeed the feeling is central to the drama: the panicky chaos the season whips up complicates the plot and makes many of its machinations possible, such as when leagues of travellers homeward bound for the holidays interfere with the hero’s efforts to track down terrorists.

But there is one undeniable proof that the sequel is the greater holiday movie. Die Hard could take place on any day of the year, truth be told. Christmas, however, is essential to Die Hard 2, and ties it inextricably to the spirit of the season.