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Die Hard 2
On an unspecified day during Christmas week, two years after the events of the previous film, John McClane is now a lieutenant with the LAPD, who arrives at Dulles International Airport to pick up his wife, Holly. He is met with hostility from airport police officer Vito Lorenzo, who issues him a parking ticket. Meanwhile, a plane carrying corrupt foreign military leader General Ramon Esperanza is headed to Dulles under extradition for using U.S. funds to buy drugs.
Waiting to meet Esperanza's plane is disgraced former United States Army Colonel William Stuart and a group of ex-military sympathizers who supported Esperanza's actions. McClane follows two of Stuart's men into a baggage sorting area where a gun fight ensues. He kills one man, but the other escapes.
With the help of his friend Sergeant Al Powell, McClane runs the dead man's fingerprints. They correspond to an American soldier who was listed as having died in a helicopter accident two years earlier. McClane reports his concerns to the ill-tempered airport police chief Carmine Lorenzo and air traffic control director Ed Trudeau, but neither believes him.
Stuart and his men are operating out of a church on the outskirts of the airport. They cut all communications with incoming airplanes, disable runway lighting, and demand that Esperanza's plane be allowed to land without interference. Under Stuart's direction, Trudeau orders all planes in Dulles airspace held in the air despite their low fuel supplies.
McClane becomes worried about Holly's plane, so enlists the help of airport janitor Marvin to fight back. Chief airport engineer Leslie Barnes decides to try using an unfinished antenna array to communicate with the airplanes. Lorenzo sends an airport SWAT team with him, but Stuart's men kill the officers and destroy the antenna. McClane saves Barnes and kills Stuart's men. In retaliation, Stuart impersonates air traffic control and fakes a British airplane's altimeter reading by recalibrating sea level. McClane is unable to warn off the airplane which crashes, killing everyone aboard.
Esperanza's plane lands and McClane wounds Esperanza before Stuart and his men arrive. They blow up the plane and take Esperanza to the church. A Blue Light team arrives, led by Major Grant, of whom Stuart is a protégé. Grant's men and McClane attack the church.
McClane kills one of Stuart's men and gives chase with his gun, but the mercenaries escape on snowmobiles. McClane follows but his vehicle is destroyed by gunfire. McClane realizes the gun was filled with blanks; the earlier firefight was staged and Grant's team is working with Stuart. Grant, Stuart, their men and Esperanza rendezvous at an airport hangar, where a Boeing 747 is waiting for them.
On Holly's flight, reporter Richard Thornburg becomes suspicious as to why the plane has not landed. He taps into the cockpit communications and records a transmission from Barnes to all the circling airplanes describing the situation. From the airplane's lavatory, Richard broadcasts the recording, leading to a panic in the airport terminal which prevents McClane and Lorenzo from getting to the 747. Holly subdues Thornburg with a fellow passenger's taser.
McClane asks reporter Samantha Coleman's crew to fly him via helicopter to intercept the 747. McClane jumps onto the wing and uses his coat to jam the aileron, preventing the plane from taking off. During a melee, McClane kicks Grant into a jet engine. While fighting Stuart, McClane opens a fuel valve in the engine pylon just as Stuart kicks him off the wing. McClane uses a cigarette lighter to ignite the fuel trail, causing the plane to explode and killing everyone on board. The fire trail serves as a landing guide for the circling aircraft to land safely.
McClane and Holly are reunited. Marvin picks them up in his airport cart just as Lorenzo turns up asking if McClane got a parking ticket outside his airport. Lorenzo rips up the ticket and says "What the hell, it's Christmas!" Marvin drives McClane and Holly away.