Here is the definitive guide to understanding, identifying, and (theoretically) locating the Die Hard 2 workprint.
: The workprint often uses temporary music tracks and lacks the final audio polish of the theatrical release. The end credits song "Let It Snow" is notably absent in most workprint versions.
McClane has a brief, odd interaction where he yells at a dog during the initial airport basement fight. There are also extended moments showing the passengers on the ill-fated Windsor 114 flight, including a little girl with a doll, which makes the subsequent crash even more disturbing.
The most immediate strike of the Die Hard 2 workprint is its tone. The theatrical release tightens humor, clarifies character stakes, and speeds the narrative to maximize breathless momentum. In the workprint, by contrast, scenes often breathe more slowly; humor and menace coexist on a looser leash. John McClane—Bruce Willis’s weary, streetwise hero—feels rawer here, less wrapped in the winking popcraft that would later be gently dialed up. That rawness does something important: it reminds the viewer that McClane is a man made credible by small, impulsive instincts rather than by blockbuster invulnerability. In certain takes present only in the workprint, McClane’s reactions are quieter, more reactive—tiny behavioral details that, when excised, subtly shift a character’s interiority.