Most sequels to action-adventure films fall flat on their bloodstained faces, but Diehard 2 is a welcome exception to that trend. This sequel doesn't just cash in on the success of the original movie, or just pull all the same stunts. Diehard 2 remains as fresh as the original, and that's pretty high praise.

Sure, the movie does follow the other time-tested rules of that genre. The hero never has to reload his gun, the villains' weapons jam in critical situations, and the know-it-all in uniform really knows nothing. And, like in the first Diehard, the plot is farfetched enough to keep the movie from being too predictable.

Diehard 2

Starring Bruce Willis

Directed by Renny Harlin

At Loews Cheri and Loews Somerville

Diehard 2 picks up one year after the end of the original movie. Bruce Willis again slips effortlessly into the guns-and-guts tradition as John McLane, an off-duty Los Angeles cop (formerly from New York) who just wants to be left alone with his family.

It's Christmastime, and McLane is meeting his wife at Dulles Airport in Washington. Before the plane lands, however, terrorists take control of the airport and threaten to kill a lot of people if the authorities don't help a shady Latin American general--who, of course, bears no resemblence to former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega--escape extradition and trial in the U.S.

The movie maintains a sense of continuity with the past, borrowing lines from Diehard repeated in Diehard 2 at appropriate and clever moments, and the movie is not afraid to acknowledge its slightly recycled existence. McLane, in a metaphysical moment, exclaims, "I can't believe this is happening to me twice!"

And then there is the constancy of the big finish. Naturally, McLane unravels the plot kills the bad guys and saves thousands of innocent holiday travelers. Hate to ruin the ending, but really, what else can you expect from a movie like this?

But Bruce Willis is a hero less in the tradition of Sylvester Stallone's indestructible Rambo than of Harrison Ford's damageable Indiana Jones. Willis' final victory is much more satisfying after having seen him drag his battered and bleeding body through the snow after suffering major defeats.

Diehard 2 is a little more lighthearted than the first movie, but thankfully doesn't degenerate into camp. The opening fight in the airport baggage-handling area confirms your worst suspicions about the real reason luggage tagged for Atlanta winds up in Anchorage. Unlike the heros of some adventure movies, however, Willis knows when to stop laughing and get down to business. Willis' "lone cowboy" mentality happily is still around.

The elemental blood-and-gore features are all here, and the minor touches are nice as well. The granny with a stun gun is just one example. Also good were the two journalists--one both sleazy and annoying, the other merely annoying-whose devotion to freedom of expression is not exactly inspiring.

Bonnie Bedelia, who plays McLane's wife, Holly, does a fine job as one of the many unsuspecting hostages, and adds an element of comic relief. Her ability is wasted by simply using her as a trophy for Willis to claim after he slays his machine-gun toting dragons.

Not that everyone in the cast deserves Academy Awards. Nearly all the bad guys seem too mechanical. As a result, the sense of warrior-like competition between Willis and the bad guys is lost. In the first movie, there is more of a sense that Willis is playing a deadly game of chess against formidable, intelligent and very real foes.

The nastiest nasty, a cold-hearted Ollie North-type named Stuart (played by William Sadler), is completely inhuman. Other bad guys get crazed looks in their eyes as they plan mass bloodshed, but this guy's expression never changes. Without even batting an eye, he kills hundreds of unsuspecting people in particularly brutal ways.

And John Amos definitely should not have been cast as a no-nonsense major in a crack army anti-terrorist unit. He's just too goofy-looking to play any role considered to be even remotely dangerous. He looked more realistic pushing imitation MacDonald's hamburgers in Eddie Murphy's brilliant Coming to America.

Even for seasoned veterans of gory movies, some of the deaths are a bit too much--one bad guy gets his eye put out by an icicle. And for the sake of realism, the same blood Willis gets on his hands from his first killing stays on him for the rest of the movie. In every scene, Willis just gets messier and messier, and by the end of the picture, bits of brain are dripping off of him.

But if you're not afraid of a little mess, Diehard 2 is pure entertainment. Ignore the implausible plot twists. Have a great time. And hold on to your seat. You just might never want to fly an airplane again.