20 Things You Didn't Know About Die Hard 2
18. It Originally Received An NC-17 Rating
It's fair to say that Die Hard 2 features the bloodiest and most sadistic kills of the series, to the extent that the MPAA originally slapped it with a dreaded NC-17 rating.
NC-17 is often referred to as the "kiss of death" for Hollywood movies given that many cinema chains will flatly refuse to screen films with the rating, and so Harlin was forced to go back into the editing room and excise some of the more "objectionable" violence.
This is the only film in the franchise that overshot its ratings target, with some fans suggesting it was due to Harlin, who two years prior had directed the grisly A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master.
Sadly to date an Unrated version of the movie hasn't ever been released, though there's surely an audience appetite for it.