If one were to mention a “new Kevin Hart movie”, there’s a good chance that you already know exactly what kind of movie you’re in for before you even make the decision to sit down and watch it. This film is no different. Granted, this is a sequel to a mini-series that I’ve seen only once on the Roku Channel and completely forgotten about. I just remember that John Travolta was in the first one. They’ve soon moved it to Amazon Prime and made a sequel film and here we are. So how is it?
It’s exactly what I expected. It’s Kevin Hart playing Kevin Hart being Kevin Hart doing what Kevin Hart does. Cracking jokes that go on way too long, sprinkled with action sequences where Kevin Hart is either yelling or making another set of jokes that just don’t land. It’s a real shame, because I believe that Kevin Hart is a great and seriously funny stand-up comedian, but a lot of the comedy in the films that he chooses to make tend to fall short. He has done movies that I personally enjoyed, but this was definitely not one of them.
This film also features Ben Schwartz as Kevin Hart’s driver. Ben Schwartz has done a lot of great things mostly in voice acting. I personally think he’s the perfect voice for Sonic in the movies, but here, just like Kevin Hart, he’s trying way too hard to make the jokes land to the point where they just carry on and on.
John Cena is on the poster of the film, but he doesn’t make an appearance in the film until the last thirty minutes of the film and even then, his screen time is very small. I think he had a grand total of two scenes, maybe three. So, don’t expect a Cena/Hart action-comedy movie here.
When it comes to the comedy of this film, it felt like they just kept drawing out one unfunny joke after another just to reach its hour and a half runtime. Without that, it would end up being a very short film. I think I only chuckled once after a certain “reveal”, but even that wore thin real fast as it went on. Aside from that one brief moment, I didn’t laugh once watching this film.
The story is whatever. The driving force behind this movie is Kevin Hart is tired of CGI and green screens in his movies and wants to perform stunts for real in his movies, but when seemingly given the opportunity to make his dream movie with real action, he soon finds that the situation he’s in is in fact real. Now he must find out who’s behind this plot against him. Additionally, this film has no direct ties to the mini-series. So, if compelled to do so, you won’t need to watch Die Hart 1 to know what’s going on.
Overall, “Die Hart 2: Die Harter” is one of those movies that really didn’t need to happen. Nor was there anyone that I know of that was asking for this. And just as I forgot about the details of the first one, I’m sure that it won’t be long until I forget the details of what I just watched with this one. I’m sure the absolute die-hard fans of Kevin Hart will be able to find something to enjoy with this film, but for me personally, it was nothing more than a waste of time. I really hope that there isn’t another one of these because whatever this is, it needs to die “Hart” with a vengeance.
1 star
Nick Nitkowski
From the Fourth Row! 
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