The Best Renny Harlin Movies of the 21st Century

Casey Chong with the best Renny Harlin movies since the turn of the millennium…

The name Renny Harlin echoes a lot of good memories, particularly for those who lived through the 80s and 90s watching his movies. He first came to prominence withA Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master in 1988, and by the early 1990s, he was on the rise with his two memorable box office hits in Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger. However, his output began to decline with his Cutthroat Island debacle, effectively sinking the once-dominating Carolco Pictures to the bottom of the ocean. He did make a brief comeback in the late ‘90s, giving us The Long Kiss Goodnight and Deep Blue Sea, but from the 2000s onwards, Harlin failed to maintain the A-list director status of his prime era. However, that doesn’t mean his subsequent films were all dead on arrival, and so, with the release of his latest – the plane crash shark survival thriller Deep Water [read our review here] – we’re looking at the best Renny Harlin movies from the post-Deep Blue Sea era…

Driven (2001)

Driven marked the first time Renny Harlin directed a sports film genre, and in this case, a movie centered on the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) racing events. Dubbed Rocky on wheels, it’s easy to see why it was labeled as such, since star and writer Sylvester Stallone transplanted the same underdog storytelling beats seen in his iconic boxing film franchise. But the underdog in question isn’t focused on Stallone’s Joe Tanto, whose semi-retired character is more of a mentor being called back to action to guide the young, up-and-coming rookie Jimmy Bly (Kip Pardue).

The movie may have been clichéd, while Harlin’s overall energetic and highly stylized direction recalls the kinetic flair of Tony Scott-style filmmaking seen in Days of Thunder. The overreliance on CGI and suspended-motion effects popularized by The Matrix tends to make this otherwise grounded racing action-drama look like a hyperactive video-game aesthetic. And yet, it has that propulsive B-movie fun, notably some of the high-speed racing scenes and wildly spectacular crashes. It also benefits from the mentor-protégé dynamic between Joe and Jimmy, along with a better-than-average supporting cast, notably Burt Reynolds’ grizzled turn as the no-nonsense wheelchair-bound team owner of the racing team.

12 Rounds (2009)

Harlin returned to the familiar Die Hard-like action thriller territory that shot him to Hollywood’s A-list map back in his heyday, resulting in 12 Rounds starring John Cena. A box-office bomb at the time of its release, this WWE Studios-produced action movie may have shamelessly ripped off Speed and Die Hard with a Vengeance, notably the story’s elaborate game structure, which focuses on the protagonist must complete the given tasks, but it contains enough visceral fun throughout its briskly paced 109-minute runtime.

Cena lacks the rugged charisma of Bruce Willis’ John McClane, but he manages to compensate with his physically demanding turn in enduring a series of setbacks. His character’s tough-guy personality as a dedicated uniformed cop-turned-detective contrasts well with pre-Game of Thrones Aidan Gillen’s sneaky antagonist role, where the latter steals most of the show. Harlin’s unusually creative decision to favor the then-trendy, 2000s-style frenetic camerawork over his usual polished filmmaking may frustrate those accustomed to his 1990s action-movie approach. But it works surprisingly well in his favor, highlighting the tense race-against-time scenario.

Bodies at Rest (2019)

Of all three Chinese-language films that Renny Harlin crossed over from Hollywood, Bodies at Rest deserves a place in this best-of list more than the Jackie Chan-led Skiptrace and the fantasy adventure-driven Legend of the Ancient Sword. It also marked a return to the comfort zone that Harlin knows best: a Die Hard-style premise set within the confines of a building. But instead of an international airport, it’s a city morgue on Christmas Eve. The hero isn’t a seasoned cop but rather an everyman forensic pathologist, played by Nick Cheung.

The story itself is nothing that we have seen before, since it follows the tried-and-tested Die Hard formula. Harlin keeps the pace lean at 94 minutes, wasting little time in establishing the trapped-in-the-confined setting scenario, with the story primarily highlighting the cat-and-mouse chase between Cheung’s character and others against the three masked intruders, led by Richie Jen’s Santa. Apart from the awkwardly misplaced fantasy sequence and a CG-heavy finale, Bodies at Rest shows that the otherwise hit-and-miss Renny Harlin still has what it takes to craft a compelling action thriller.

Mindhunters (2004)

Harlin combines his familiarity with confined-setting thrills and Agatha Christie-style whodunit mystery in Mindhunters, a movie that was notoriously hampered by its lengthy behind-the-scenes woes. Repeated release delays, frustrating studio transition, post-production turmoil, and rating issues were among the troubles that ended with Mindhunters in limbo. And by the time the movie came out for release, it was largely forgotten by the mass audience.

Sure, Mindhunters is convoluted. But the story’s crafty premise about a group of selected FBI trainees finding themselves trapped on a remote island, where one by one gets killed in an elaborate, deadly game of cat and mouse, packs enough guilty-pleasure thrills. Harlin’s knack for polished action-oriented direction is put to good use while elevating it with plenty of gore and violence. The genre-bending approach also helps in maintaining the palpable fun, complete with the slasher-horror tropes thrown in for good measure.

Cleaner (2007)

Here’s a little-seen thriller from Renny Harlin, proving he can make an intriguing movie without relying on his usual action-movie pyrotechnics. The title in question refers to Samuel L. Jackson’s Tom Cutler, whose job as a professional cleaner specializes in cleaning up crime scenes. Casting Jackson in the lead is a nice touch, reuniting the actor and the director after The Long Kiss Goodnight. His quietly intense yet methodical acting is notable in bringing out something different than the actor’s typically boisterous on-screen persona.

Jackson pairs well with the equally strong supporting cast, notably Ed Harris as his ex-police partner and Keke Palmer as his daughter. Working from Matthew Aldrich’s screenplay, Harlin utilizes the whodunit-style narrative, allowing the viewers to play armchair detectives to guess who the killer is. He also deserves praise for keeping the pace taut at a lean 88 minutes, favoring the narrative efficiency in blending character-driven drama and intrigue with the psychological thrills to mostly successful results.

Devil’s Pass (2013)

Renny Harlin joined the found-footage horror bandwagon in Devil’s Pass, using the harrowing 1950s true-story Dyatlov Pass incident as a jumping-off point for a story about a group of young students (Holly Goss, Matt Stokoe, Luke Albright, Ryan Hawley, and Gemma Atkinson) on a journey to Russia to record their investigation. Like most found-footage horror, Harlin takes his deliberate time in building up the tension, first focusing on the on-screen dynamic of these young students looking all hopeful and excited about their expedition.

Then comes the warning as the movie slowly escalates with a sense of foreboding dread, particularly the longer these students choose to stick around in the snowbound Dyatlov Pass. Harlin uses the shaky-cam to his advantage, capturing his characters in peril with seemingly no way out and no help whatsoever. The movie culminates in an increasingly bleak payoff, tapping into the mix of primal fear and anxiety facing the unknown danger.

5 Days of War (2011)

Breaking away from his usual action and horror-movie comfort zones, Renny Harlin’s 5 Days of War uses the 2008 Russo-Georgian War as a backdrop to tell the story from the perspective of the press journalist and cameraman (Rupert Friend, Richard Coyle), where the two on a mission to report the ongoing crisis. The politically-charged perspective on the war itself may have been reduced to a streamlined, yet propagandistic view that heavily favors the Georgian side, but Harlin remains in his wheelhouse when the movie focuses on the characters-in-peril situation.

The action is visceral as it should be, highlighting the war-torn chaos and violence of getting caught in a crossfire, enduring the airstrike, and facing the enemy territory. Unlike Harlin’s typically heroic protagonists seen in his past movies, Friend and Coyle’s characters are more of everymen doing their jobs amidst all the dangers. It also helps that both actors’ solid yet grounded performances help elevate the movie apart from Harlin’s technical mastery in the war sequences.

The Covenant (2006)

The Covenant is like a testosterone-fueled version of The Craft, trading the all-female teenage coven for high school boys. The movie got ripped apart by the critics when it was first released in 2006, and despite still managing to become a moderate box-office hit, the cliffhanger ending hinted at a possible sequel remains in limbo. Frankly, the story itself is like a CW version of teenage male witches’ elements blended with high school drama, romance, and rivalry.

But kudos still go to Harlin for depicting the kind of modern teen angst associated with the brooding high schoolers, backed by then-younger actors such as Taylor Kitsch, Chace Crawford, and Sebastian Stan. The movie is also heavily stylized to accentuate the glossy and darkly gothic visual aesthetic, coupled with the eclectic mix of nu-metal and industrial rock soundtrack, which complements its overall tone. The special effects may have been dated, but there’s a sense of energetic fun watching the rival boys possessing supernatural powers, hurling telekinetic blasts against each other.

What are your favourite Renny Harlin movies? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…

Casey Chong