Die Hard 2 is a 1990 American action film and the second installment in the Die Hard film series. The film was released on July 4, 1990 in the United States. The film was directed by Renny Harlin, written by Steven E. deSouza and Doug Richardson and stars Bruce Willis as John McClane. The film co-stars Bonnie Bedelia, William Sadler, Art Evans, William Atherton, Franco Nero, Dennis Franz, Fred Thompson, John Amos and Reginald VelJohnson.
The screenplay was adapted from Walter Wager's novel 58 Minutes. The novel has the same plot but differs slightly: a cop must stop terrorists who take an airport hostage while his wife's plane circles overhead, and has 58 minutes to do so before the plane crashes. Roderick Thorp, who wrote the novel Nothing Lasts Forever, upon which Die Hard was based, receives credit for creating "certain original characters", although his name is misspelled onscreen as "Roderick Thorpe".