Most Hollywood 2nd movies in a series fall short of the original. Exceptions in which the sequel is superior to the original include The Empire Strikes Back and X2: X-Men United. Die Hard 2 is like most sequels: good enough, but not as great.

ruthless television reporter Dick Thornburg (played by Dick Thornburg).

Luckily for us, this particular reporter is fictional. Dick Thornburg was played by actor William Atherton.

Many people wondered if Die Hard was a Christmas movie because of its timing when it was released in 1988. To this day there is still debate as to whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie. However weak the argument had been between 1988 and 1990, it took Die Hard 2-- itself a Christmas movie-- to solidify the place of Die Hard as a Christmas movie.

Objectively speaking, William Sadler as Colonel Stuart played a good villain. He just wasn't on the same level as the iconic Hans Gruber; then again, who could be? This would be proven again in Die Hard with a Vengeance when Jeremy Irons plays the brother of the departed Gruber. However, Sadler would later play a more nuanced and lethal version of Stuart as "Sloane," a recurring character in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

One character who played a bigger role than expected was the chief air traffic controller Trudeau, played one-time trucker and future U.S. Senator from Tennessee Fred Thompson. While DC cop Lorenzo was seen as incompetent at least early on, Trudeau was seen as someone large and in charge of his area of expertise.

As you suggested, John McClane himself appeared to be reliving his own Groundhog Day with only details changing. At least future movies in the series would be different in this regard even as the stakes became larger each time (an entire city in DH3, the nation in DH4, an international incident in DH5).