History YMMV / DieHard2

** There's also how people are allowed to wait in the main terminal for hours on end to pick up/greet passengers, something almost no modern airport today would permit.

** Everyone ripping on the poorly [[CriticalResearchFailure researched]] "Glock 7" scene [[note]]Seriously, they got the ''name'' of the damn gun wrong, and the name is already on the slide of the gun; how could the filmmakers mess up the name of all things?![[/note]]

* IdiotPlot: While most of the stupid things done can be waved off as people not knowing how many precautions Stuart has taken and being overly cautious, his scheme wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for three things that should never have happened.
** First, the security detail on Esperanza's prisoner transport consisted of one green private. If there had been a second guard, Esperanza would have been subdued before he could have killed that private, and even if they'd just brought along a minor functionary to sign paperwork, the pilots could have been warned about the takeover attempt and prevented it.
** Second, the prisoner transport was being sent to Dulles, a civilian airport which is difficult to secure even under ideal circumstances, much less during the crowded conditions of the Christmas travel season, rather than Andrews AFB, a nearby military airport.
** Third, every pilot flying into Dulles forgetting an FAA regulation stating that any airfield, civilian or military, that is capable of accepting an aircraft in distress must do so. Even though the nearest alternate airfield (Reagan National) was stated to have shut down due to the weather, any aircraft with enough fuel to fly in circles for two hours has enough fuel to fly to another airport. Here's what would have happened if this scheme had been attempted in real life: Within half an hour of Dulles Control warning all the airplanes about the runway being shut down (And even if Dulles couldn't use their radio, there were still three other airports in the immediate area whose communications Stuart had not compromised, any of which could easily relay any further messages), every one of those planes would be lining up outside of BWI or Andrews AFB asking for landing clearance, depriving Stuart of any hostages. Then Dulles Control would announce that they are shutting down (Probably blaming the weather to avoid a panic) and asking all civilians and employees not essential to flight control operations to leave. Once they all left, they'd have the government bring in whatever firepower was necessary to regain control of the airport.

* CriticalResearchFailure: Aviation doesn't work that way. At all. In fact, ''Film/{{Airplane}}'' is probably more accurate.
** Colonel Stuart's plans involve shutting down air traffic control at Washington Dulles International Airport so as to prevent interference with his operation. This creates drama via the fact that a lot of planes are unable to be given instructions to land at the airport, so they're all circling the airport with dwindling fuel supplies. Except that FAA regulations state that all passenger airline flights are required to carry enough fuel to not only fly from their origin airport to their destination, but also enough divert to another major airport close by in case of an emergency (and any airport capable of landing an aircraft in distress must do so), like the one depicted in the film. The film takes place in Washington DC, where there are three major airports: Reagan National is explicitly stated by Trudeau to be shut down, but there should still be Andrews Air Force Base, which is more than capable of landing most civilian aircraft, since it is where they land Air Force One. Furthermore, Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport is also close by, and the distance to Philadelphia International Airport or any of the three New York City airports (Newark, [=LaGuardia=] and JFK) isn't terribly far either, but for some reason the only alternate airports Barnes can think of are Memphis, Nashville, and Atlanta (to be fair, Atlanta at minimum would also work as a diversion destination). In addition, Trudeau could have just as easily used a telephone to call up Reagan National, Andrews AFB, or BWI, and asked one of ''them'' to contact the planes circling Dulles, since there was nothing wrong with ''their'' radios. In short, either the snowstorm is so bad that it shut down almost all airports on the East Coast bar Dulles (making it improbably ''apocalyptic''), or the suspense of the movie '''never should have happened.'''
** There's also the whole "Glock 7" debacle. In reality, Glock pistols are a combination of a polymer frame and metal slide and moving parts, as opposed to porcelain like John claims. Even if such a pistol did exist and couldn't be detected by X-Ray machines, the ammunition would be. Further, Glock is Austrian, not German, and has never made a pistol designated "Glock 7"; their model designations start at 17 and increase (for record, the pistols depicted here are Glock 17s).
** ''And'' John also claims that the gun cost more than one makes in a month (or year?); the guns are relatively inexpensive. More than $1.98 though. Glocks cost around $400-$500, making them midrange and quite affordable, especially on a policeman's salary.
*** It could loop back over into FridgeBrilliance as Lorenzo is shown to be an idiot who's not interested in either protocol or hearing whatever John has to say, so John could be deliberately making things up just to try and get some level of cooperation out of him. The movie doesn't do anything to show how the firearms were supposed to be undetectable through metal detectors, so it's just John being John to an ObstructiveBureaucrat.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Richard Thornberg sharing a flight with Holly [=McClane=] is absolutely in violation of the restraining order. Not to mention that she goes on to ''attack him!'' Dick's lawyers are going to have some fun once he gets off that plane.

* AngstWhatAngst: Stuart's men are not particularly shaken by Grant's run-in with their plane's engine turbine in their last moments before the craft is destroyed; by comparison, the coldblooded Stuart is shown to at least be somewhat perturbed by this last-second setback.

* {{Asspull}}: [=McClane=] surviving the explosion of Esperanza's plane; who knew hand grenades took their sweet time exploding? Or subsonic cargo planes had ejection seats?

* WhatAnIdiot: Thornburg and his colleagues leaking the word of the terrorist takeover of the airport out to the public. Although more justifiable with Thornburg seeing how he cares nothing for the lives he endangers in airing his discovery to the thousands of holiday travelers who were until then unaware of the siege, his colleagues are much too eager to indulge his demands to put this out onto the air and thus a mass panic breaks out just as the police are assembling to pursue the terrorists.
** The decision for General Esperanza's plane to land at Dulles in the first place proves to be this; Instead of an American airforce base where security would've made escape nearly impossible, they have his transport land at a civilian airport where Colonel Stuart had many more avenues to exploit the demonstrably inadequate measures taken.
** The government sending Grant's team to eliminate Colonel Stuart. Given the history between Grant and Stuart, it would almost certainly be considered a conflict of interest to send Stuart's former commanding officer after him even if Grant and the team weren't in on the terrorist plot.

* TearJerker: [[spoiler: Col. Stuart crashes a plane full of innocent people]] just to make it clear that he's in charge. John tries desperately to avert this, but fails, and bitterly ''weeps'' ManlyTears for them in his most vulnerable and humane moment in the franchise.

** Earlier in the film, a news reporter on TV points out that General Esperanza, who is smiling and waving as he's being escorted in chains onto an aircraft, looks surprisingly chipper for a dictator who's about to spend the rest of his life in an American prison. [[spoiler: This is obviously because he knows there are men waiting to free him from captivity.]]

* Earlier in the film, a news reporter points out that Esperanza, who is smiling and waving as he's being escorted in chains onto an aircraft, looks surprisingly chipper for a dictator who's about to spend the rest of his life in an American prison. [[spoiler: This is obviously because he knows there are men waiting to free him from captivity.]]

* JerkassHasAPoint: Richard Thornberg sharing a flight with Holly McClane is absolutely in violation of the restraining order. Not to mention that she goes on to ''attack him!'' Dick's lawyers are going to have some fun once he gets off that plane.

* CatharsisFactor: Seeing Stuart (even though his death scream is not shown), Esperanza and the others get blown up in the plane when [=McClane=] lights the gas is incredibly satisfying and matches Hans's demise as well in awesomeness.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Richard Thornberg is correct to point out that him and Holly sharing a flight is violating his restraining order. Worse yet, Holly ''assaults him'' with a stun-gun! Both Holly and the airline are going to be in quite a bit of legal trouble once Dick calls his lawyer.

* ToughActToFollow: On it's own merit, it's a good movie, but let's face it, ''Film/DieHard'' was such an epic among action films that it was inevitable that the sequel would struggle to match it.

** Colonel Stuart guides a plane full of innocent passengers into crashing into the runway. All because [=McClane=] had the ''audacity'' to kill the men they had stationed at the annex skywalk.

** The moment where McClane ejects from the exploding plane was never particularly believable; a sharp eye today can see that Willis is simply inserted over the footage of the explosion.