DIE HARD 2 - Komplette Score Analyse (in Englisch)

[Mink]

DIE HARD 2 - DIE HARDER

Complete Score Analysis

While not as clever as his predecessor, DIE HARD 2 stands out as one of the better sequels in movie history. Staying true not only to the formula and the protagonists character from the first movie, it also manages to reproduce the look of part one. Something many sequels simply forget to achieve just because they dont want to copy too much. DIE HARD 2 certainly isnt ashamed to do so. All it wants to to be is bigger. And with that it 100% succeeds. Its a fantastic ride for all action film fans, deliviering some great shootouts (that where even quoted by John Woo in his popular The Killer) and the final fight between McClane and Stuart on the wing of the plane alone is a scene that, in its brutish violence, makes you wonder if youre still watching a commercially orientated blockbuster movie. To me this scene still hasnt found its match in modern Hollywood cinema today.

The movies transformation affected Michael Kamens score as well. While carrying over a great deal of themes and even whole cue structures from the first part, the score is overall, just like the movie, more powerful and violent, sacrificing some of DIE HARDs charme but still preserving the comical and humorous style.

DIE HARD 2 is easily Kamens biggest action score ever and what a cool ride it is: brilliant variations of the score from part one as well as new themes and quotations from Sibelius Finlandia, worked in masterfully into the score, make this one one of the all-time-highlights in action movie music history.

It is a shame that only about 33 minutes of actual score are available on the soundtrack album while the last 7(!) minutes are being used for Sibelius Finnlandia. While its undoubtly a brilliant piece of music and a great conclusion for the album, a little bit more score wouldve been worth the money.

Nevertheless its a great album that, despite its short lenght, manages to cover a great deal of the movies key scenes.

Basic sources for this analysis were the OST, the workprint and the 5.1 channels of the DVD.

Music Composed and Conducted by Michael Kamen

Orchestra Recorded and Mixed by Armin Steiner at 20th Century Fox

Re-Mixed by Stephen P. McLaughlin

Performed by The Los Angeles Motion Picture All Stars Orchestra (todays Hollywood Studio Symphony)

Orchestrations by Michael Kamen with Chris Boardman, Bruce Babcock, William Ross, Don Davis, Mark Koval, Philip Giffin and Ron Gorow

Scoring Crew: Terry Brown, Chuck Garsha & John Bruno

Supervising Music Editor: Christopher S. Brooks

Assistant Music Editor: James J. George

The lenght of the cues is mostly of the original versions. In some cases it wasnt sure if original material had been replaced or not, thus it is then referred to the film dub running time.

01. Colonel Stuart Pt. I (0:50)

First half of track 1 on the Varese album.

Plays unaltered.

02. Colonel Stuart Pt. II (0:41)

Second half of track 1 on the Varese album.

Plays unaltered.

03. The Van (0:38)

Some pretty dark, and rather Kamen untypical choir underlays the arrival of the bad guys at the church.

Its possible that this and the following cue are actually one track that has been simply dialed out in the middle.

04. Unexpected Guests (0:20)

The choir continues and the infamous christmas bells from DIE HARD make a quick cameo here. Theyre never heard again in the movie, even though they featured so prominently in the first part.

05. Opening the Clubhouse (0:28)

A variation of John On the Stairs/Grubers Intentions from DIE HARD, followed by a short Finlandia quote.

06. God Loves the Infantry (1:48)

After 22 seconds (another variation of John on the Stairs/Grubers Intentions) the cue continues with a dark string passage that culminates into an abysmally evil motive for the grinning of Garber and his boys. A great moment! The track then segues into yet another, but this time more aggressive, variation of John on the Stairs/Grubers Intentions, as the bad guys check their watches.

The track fades out rather abruptly and after 10 seconds of silence theres a very brief string drone (running for 9 seconds) that is quickly dialed out as well. This indicates that this and the following cue might be actually one.

Also given Kamens typical humorous scoring style, its very likely that he wouldve written something for the ironic encounter between McClane and the cop from the opening sequence.

07. John on the Tail (1:04)

Yet another variation of John on the Stairs/Grubers Intentions.

08. Baggage Handling Pt. I (2:23)

First half of track 2 on the Varese album.

Due to the many re-cuts the film underwent during scoring the cue is tightened in various places. Only the bigger ones are mentioned here.

The music from 0:22 to 0:28 is replaced with previous material from 0:10 to 0:20. The nice humorous moment from 0:47 to 1:04 (We just work here.) is dialed out and the cue comes back in actually a few seconds earlier then in the original version.

1:50 to 2:22 belonged to a short scene where Mclane is hiding on a luggage belt and jumps down in front of a dogcage. The scene was removed and the music therefore cut as well. The short drum burst at the end (from 2:21 to 2:22) was mixed in at 1:48 to end the cue.

On the album this cue can be heard, except for the overdub in the last few seconds, in its entirely.

09. Baggage Handling Pt. II (3:10)

On the Varese album (second half of track 2) only the second half of this cue (from 1:27 on) is present. Its mixed in from 1:27 to 1:29 in the end of Pt.I (from 2:19 to 2:22).

The first minute of the cue is a variation of Rooftop from DIE HARD (namely the section from 1:19 to 2:27).

Again re-editing in post production led to some restructering of this cue. The three somewhat seconds from 1:30 to 1:33 (2:22 to 2:26 on the Varese album) were brought forward and put in at 1:15. A small string excertp from 1:15 to 1:18 was eliminated, switching directly to 1:18 (as the bad guy is watching the cops entering the room).

Again small snippets from 1:33 to 1:55 (2:26 to 2:48 on the Varese) are cut as the scene with McLane an the bad guy fighting on the luggage belt underwent some more re-editing.

The rather comical over-the-top scored demise of the bad guy from 2:01 to 2:02 is cut and the music from 2:02 on is brought forward. Another humorous moment from 2:13 to 2:14 (3:05 to 3:06 on the Varese) is cut as well.

The Album then omits the (this time left in) comical note on McClanes missing badge being on its way to Cleveland, cutting 15 seconds (of which 8 are pure silence) and segues from 2:34 into the section that plays from 2:49 on (3:27 to End on the Varese).

10. Dismissed (1:04)

The suspense moment from 0:38 to 0:50 is used on two more occassions in the movie.

11. Lorenzo (0:32)

The cue for the argument between McClane and Lorenzo is a nearly identical re-recording of News Room from DIE HARD minus the last few seconds. It can be heard in complete form in a later scene in the movie, but given its humorous nature its highly possible that is was written for this scene here.

12. General Esperanza (2:13)

Track 3 on Varese album.

Plays unaltered.

13. Stiff Dossier (0:44)

Finlandia quotes underline the brief conversation between McClane and Powell about the dead luggage punk. Kamen scores McClanes flirting with an airpott dame (Just the fax maam.) with a nice wink.

14. In the Tower (0:45)

McClanes theme segues into some hardly audiable dialogue music. The cue concludes again with McClanes theme as he enters the tower.

15. Fire It Up (1:47)

Finlandia quotes are all over the place as Stuart and his gang prepare to takeover the airport.

Kamen manged to accentuate the dialogue in suspense scenes brilliantly. He often let the music play to the dialogue by using silence as an effective part of scoring and putting in small ironic quotes always very close to the respective dialogue. It are those scenes, that another composer might have scored simply with drones and atmospheric music, that reveal Kamens true talent to express emotions in a way that lets the music almost feel like an addtional character, commenting ironically to the action on screen.

The music for the light fallout and the following chaos in the tower is tracked from two later cues: Esperenza Enters Cockpit and Raid On The Church.

16. The Takeover (3:24)

Kamens trademark sytle of brilliant dialogue music continues as Stuart is making his demands. The moment when the light of the telephone begins to blink as Stuart is calling, is pure masterful suspense scoring, expressing the emotional content on screen musically perfect.

The short cue in the elevator is simply tracked from Fire It Up(1:21-End). The last note however isnt to be found in any other cue of the score. Therefore there might have been music written for the scene that was replaced except for the very ending.

17. Deja Vu (0:15)

A Kamen typical, very brief cue for McClanes remark on his repeating situation.

18. The Annexe Skywalk (3:10)

Track 4 on the Varese album.

Plays unaltered.

19. Annexe Ambush (2:04)

A Finlandia based action motive arises as the SWAT team is being attacked at the Skywalk.

The first 22 seconds from God Loves the Infantry are mixed in from 1:13 followed by more tracked material, this time from Dismissed (0:37-0:51).

Its possible that those two tracked sections replace original material as the following part of original music from 1:46 to End, as Mclanes breaks through the ceiling (an almost identical new version of 0:59-1:13 of Hand to Hand from DIE HARD) sounds more like the end rather then the beginning of a cue.

It then segues directly into:

20. Annexe Shootout (3:18)

The first 50 seconds are a powerhouse variation on the first 25 seconds of Hand to Hand from DIE HARD, the track then continues with more original kick-ass action music, packed with Finlandia quotes as McClane takes out the terrorists.

From 1:58 to 2:08 the tension building section from Dismissed (this time only from 0:37 to 0:47 though) makes another appearence. The original cue continues to play simultaniously until its dialed out from 2:04 to 2:08. Kamens orginal take features less screaching strings, stays in an overall lower tone and doesnt build that much obvious tension as the tracked material. The original cue comes back in at 2:08 and plays unaltered to the end.

Kamens unmistakeable trademark style shines through from 2:43 to 2:53 (Make you waste your time.). An outstanding track!

21. Code Blocked (0:50)

A slightly altered version of Emptying the Vault from DIE HARD, with Stuarts theme build in and a brutal militaristic Finlandia outburst as conclusion.

The cue segues directly into:

22. The Church (1:14)

Track 5 on the Varese album.

Plays unaltered.

23. Minus 200 Feet (1:54)

Again an almost identical adapation of two DIE HARD cues: Takagis Death and Planting the Explosives.

24. Weve Got You. (2:25)

Aside from some minor alterations in the orchestration the cues is up until 1:09 an almost identical version of 0:00 to 1:23 from DIE HARDs Rooftop, achieving an overall more dramatic sound by using a bigger orchestra and being more aggressive in tone and style.

From 1:12 the cue segues into an adaption of the tension building last part of And If He Alters It? (1:14 to 2:20) from DIE HARD, again being orchestrated a lot bigger and more dramatic. The cue ends with a powerful screaming outburst just as the plane explodes.

25. The Crash (0:50)

Except for the last 12 seconds of new material the cue is a close adaption of the second half of Johns Big Jump from DIE HARD.

26. The Doll (2:20)

0:17-0:24 from In the Plane are used as an introduction to the cue which then plays unaltered.

On the Varese album (Track 6) the cues ending is cut off and its dialed out from 1:54 on. Curiously enough, from 2:02 on, two tracks from DIE HARD are mixed in: Takagis Death and Planting the Explosives.

27. Major Grant (2:18)

After a variation of Preparing to Come In from DIE HARD in its first half the cue segues into more adapted material loosly based on 0:38-0:54 of Big Boom, with a wild and dominant, almost exotic motive for Major Grant worked in as he arrives at the scene.

28. No Civilians. (1:25)

The first 28 seconds are tracked material from Major Grant (0:000:28). The original cue comes back in rather abrupt. Its unclear wherever the tracked music replaces original material or if the original cue really just starts from 0:28 on.

The rest of the cue is a loose adaption of Ssearching for John from DIE HARD.

29. F.M. One (1:11)

The cues first 15 seconds are a variation of the first 17 seconds of Elevator Shaft from DIE HARD, but it then segues quickly into Finlandia driven original material using a great suspense adaption of Sibelius piece as motive for the outer shots of the F.M. One plane.

30. Esperanza Enters Cockpit (0:56)

The cue is an almost identical adaption of Double-Crossed from DIE HARD, being only orchestrated in a slightly different way.

Edited material from 1:11 to 1:35 of General Esperanza is tracked as McClane is listening to Stuart and Esperanza on the walkie-talkie.

31. The Runaway (3:57)

Track 7 on the Varese album.

Play unaltered.

32. Military Funeral (3:04)

Violent action music and Finlandia quotes acompany McClanes confrontation with Stuart and his gang at Esperanzas plane. A fantastic build up and relief follows as McClane makes a lunatic escape in the ejection seat.

The tone of this cue in particular bares the strong handwriting of Don Davis (one of the scores orchestrators). Theres even an early version of one if his trademark motives from the MATRIX trilogy in this tune (1:36-1:43, e.g. compareable with 0:53-0:59 of Contusion Conclusion from THE MATRIX RELOADED).

Even though theres some unmistakeable Kamen in it as well (0:45-0:50: a small motive that he used in almost all of his scores), it is Davis style that dominates this track.

Another action extravaganza!

Lorenzo is reused for McClanes and Barnes brief conversation back at the airport.

33. In the Plane (1:38)

Track 8 on the Varese album.

Play unaltered.

Segues from 1:33 into:

34. Icicle (3:06)

Track 9 on the Varese album

Some minor cuts due to re-editing are present at several places. The majority of the cue plays intact though.

On the album the cue is shortened by 9 seconds at the end: the last three seconds of the cues drum pattern are brough forward to end the track earlier. The pretty audiable cut is at 2:50.

Theres an alternate of this cue that has been re-used during the car chase scene in DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE.

35. Raid on the Church (3:10)

A slightly shortened excerpt from 0:52 to 1:15 replaces most likely original material from 1:19 to 1:42, though there is of course the possibility that there was no score for this moment, and that there are two seperate cues for this scene.

The ending of the cue was originally longer, climating into the first note of Snowmobiles, (it can be heard again in the car chase scene in DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE) but the ending was brough forward at 3:04.

36. Snowmobiles (2:42)

Track 10 on the Varese album.

One of the absolute action highlights of the score. Kamen lets it all loose here in an breathtaking chase cue that lets even todays blockbuster action scores sound like lounge music.

Again re-editing is the reason for some minor alterations in the film dub of this cue. It also uses a stinger (of unknown origin) on the first second to let the cue come in more aggresive.

37. Move-Out (0:33)

Seems to play unaltered.

38. Hatchling (1:35)

Another variation of Emptying the Vault from DIE HARD. In a clever move Kamen first uses typical News-xylophones as the scene takes place in Thornbergs Network Station and then repleaces them by snare drums as the scene switches to Grants platoon.

From 0:54 on edited material from 0:00 to 0:55 from The Annexe Skywalk is used. First it accompanies the original cue, then plays solely. Its unknown wherever original material is being replaced or if there simply was no score for the end of the scene.

39. The Terminal Pt. I (1:12)

0:00-0:56 of track 11 on the Varese album.

Theres a 12 second long dark string drone at the beginning, which is omitted from the album, as the audience at the airport is watching Thornbergs speech.

The following 30 seconds consist of tracked looped material from Snowmobiles (2:17-End).

Segueing directly into:

40. The Terminal Pt. II (2:39)

Middle section of track 11 on the Varese album.

Only four seconds of silence from 1:34 to 1:38 are cut on the album.

Plays unaltered in the film dub.

41. The Hanger (1:32)

The film dub dials out the parts from 0:38 to 0:45 and 1:01 to 1:12. The rest seems to be unaltered.

42. I Don't Like To Lose. (1:40)

The cue starts with a militaristic version of DIE HARDs Big Boom motive before being replaced from 0:27 to 0:49 with tracked material from Dismissed (0:00-0:22).

Its also possible that the original cue simply ends after 28 seconds and the tracked material was being used to fill in the gap between this one the next cue.

The following section is based loosly on the second half of The Assault from DIE HARD.

From 1:34 the cue is mixed with:

43. Emergency Landing / It's McClane Again. (2:??)

Strings and weird sounding synths are heard as the crew in Hollys plane prepares for an emergency landing. McClanes theme is appears very briefly and segues into more dramatic music as the helicopter approaches Stuarts plane.

The music then changes into thematic material from Johns Big Jump from DIE HARD and as McClane lands on the wing another variation of the second half of And He If He Alters It? is heard.

The actual ending of this cue remains unheard as it ends abruptly and is mixed straight into the next cue (On the Wing) in the film dub and dialed out even earlier in the workprint. The latter reveals a slightly longer version of the cue as it shows McClane crouching a little longer on the wing. Original running time must be around 2 minutes 50 seconds.

The Varese album features an alternate of this cue (3:30-5:17 of track 11) that has a slightly different intro, omits the synth and instead of leading to the Johns Big Jump action material at 1:15, turns into more peaceful music, hinting that it was ment for another cut of the movie that possibly showed one more scene of Holly in the plane.

A curious note: this dramatic music from 0:39 to 1:15 in the film version (4:10 to 5:17 on the Varese Album) wasnt written for DIE HARD 2 at all! It already can be heard in a Kamen/Guthrie re-scored scene from LIFEFORCE in 1985, five years before the making of this film!

Kamen explained in an interview that he and Guthrie played around with orchestral demo cues of his for LIFEFORCE and this portion of music seems to be one of those cues. Concerning the use of another possible cue like this for the final (see Bon Voyage), it is highly possible that this is indeed the case here and it remains a curios coincidence that this music even ended up being on the OST album, despite never being written for the actual film and also being used in yet another movie years earlier.

Time pressure seems to be the logical explanation why Kamen decided to build in some of his library cues into the score.

44. On the Wing (1:20)

The scene ran originally almost twice as long but the first half was cut down resulting in shortening of the music as well. Portions of the cut material can be heard as the cue is re-used after Grant Gets It (see below).

45. Grant Gets It (0:56)

5:17 to End of track 11 on the Varese album. Plays unaltered.

For the encounter between McClane and Stuart music from On the Wing was tracked. Some of it being unheard in the original scene it was meant to be played.

46. Bon Voyage (?:??)

The movie features 1 minute and 29 seconds of original material of this cue that is then dialed out. The original length is difficult to anticipate since again the origin of this track is most likely a demo cue from Kamens own library.

This demo cue can be heard in its full version, although heavily distorted, on Intradas AMAZING STORIES VOL. 3. Its a track for Kamens MIRROR, MIRROR episode called Zombies.

Its an over 6 minute brilliant rollercoaster ride that would definitely deserve a clean release. One of the best action pieces ever written IMO!

Listening to the track in DIE HARD 2 its hard to believe that is wasnt written for the scene, as especially moments like McClane being kicked from the planes wing and landing on the ground seem just too fitting for the scene.

Nevertheless it was written around 1985 as portions of the whole cue (as featured on the Intrada CD) can be heard in the same dream sequence in LIFEFORCE mentioned earlier (see Emergency Landing / It's McClane Again).

The final film version however is actually a new recording done by Kamen for DIE HARD 2 in 1990. It is orchestrated differently, using a piano for the striking rythmic beat while the original cue has none. Also the build-up to McClanes Yippikayee catch phrase is orchestrated slighltly different, being more aggressive, using heavy percussion for bulilding up the tension.

In the workprint the scene runs remarkable longer and uses a great deal of the original demo cue. Not only music from the section that was later re-recorded is used, but also previous material is used to underscore the confrontation between McClane and Stuart (instead of tracked music from On the Wing). The demo cue continues to play as underscore for the planes explosion (left unscored in the final film) with a relieving, heroic blast and some more suspense music (for McClanes cheering) before being faded into Finlandia.

So at the end it remains unknown how much of his demo cue Kamen re-recorded. Either it was just the portion that ended of up being used in the film, or an even longer version that also featured music for the fight betweeen McClane and Stuart, as well as the planes explosion.

Its interesting that the original demo cue (not the DIE HARD 2 re-recording) was used for Jeremy Irons sex scene and the final helicopter battle at the end of DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE.

47. Reunion (2:00)

After an excerpt of Kamens Finlandia re-recording this cue comes in.

The reunion of McClane and his wife is scored brilliantly by Kamen is his unmistakeably bittersweet style. A wonderful closing tune!

The last 10 seconds of the cues conclusion (actually heard during the scene between Thornburg and the old lady) are dialed out in the film dub.

48. Finlandia (7:29)

Kamen did a re-recording of the Jean Sibelius tune that was used for the landing of the planes earlier. Its then used as end credits music.

Approximately total score time: 77:53 (85:22 with Finlandia)

[Souchak]

Saubere Arbeit. Hätte ich gerne auch mal für einen Score, der mir was bedeutet

[Marcus Stöhr]

Wow, tolle Analyse.

[Mink]

danke leude! hatte über ostern n bischen zuviel zeit ;-)

[ronin1975]

zumal Military Funeral auch 1:1 in TREMORS schon drin war, auch von Davis orchestriert... beides Filme bei denen nicht viel Zeit zum Scoren war... lustigerweise kam das Stück auch in THREE MUSKETEERS vor (mein ich) und nochmal woanders... erinner ich aber nicht... na is auch nen Bombencue, den ich mir in der Endlosschleife anhören kann...

[Mink]

Du meinst "The Runaway", gelle? ;-)

"Millitary Funeral" fehlt ja leider auf der CD.

Ist auf jeden Fall n Bomben Stück und Davis Einfluss auf die Momente ist unüberhörbar.

[ronin1975]

ach das wars