--- name: "Renny Harlin" canonical: "https://film.one/person/renny-harlin" fi1m_id: "renny-harlin" imdb_id: "nm0001317" tmdb_id: 16938 wikidata_id: "Q318712" roles: ["Director"] born: "15 March 1959" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 72 average_as: "director" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-09-19T15:59:54.388911+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Renny Harlin ## Identity Renny Harlin - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/renny-harlin - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** renny-harlin - **IMDb ID:** nm0001317 - **TMDB ID:** 16938 - **Wikidata ID:** Q318712 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renny_Harlin, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q318712, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001317/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/16938 Director. Born 15 March 1959 in Riihimäki, Finland. ## Details - **Work:** Director - **Born:** 15 March 1959, Riihimäki, Finland - **Active:** 1990–1993 - **Also known as:** Lauri Harjola, Renny Lauri Mauritz Harjola - **Average Fi1m score:** 72, as director, over 2 titles - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renny_Harlin, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q318712, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001317/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/16938 ## Streaming the US now - **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Cliffhanger*](https://film.one/film/cliffhanger.md) (74) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Renny Harlin > At his best, Renny Harlin makes physical danger easy to follow and hard to dismiss. We value that skill, while his fondness for noise and tolerance of poor dialogue keep our enthusiasm in check. A climber searches for a foothold, and Renny Harlin has our attention. In *Cliffhanger* (1993), he makes the next move across the mountain matter, with Sylvester Stallone a solid centre for the action. We were tense during the climbing because the difficulty of finding somewhere secure to stand feels convincing. The dialogue rarely holds our attention as firmly. This is a good action thriller, and a useful place to see both his ability and its limits. Harlin moved from *A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master* (1988) to *Die Hard 2* (1990), and horror and action have remained his principal occupations. Those sequels established him in Hollywood, where his practical strengths were clear geography and physical impact during elaborate set pieces. The poorly received *Cutthroat Island* (1995) sits between *Cliffhanger* and the shark thriller *Deep Blue Sea* (1999). His later work has continued across horror and action, without a tidy progression away from the genres that brought him through. In *Cliffhanger*, that clarity is shared work. Frank J. Urioste’s editing lets us follow the physical struggle rather than merely register a succession of impacts. Production designer John Vallone keeps the close-quarters fighting part of the harsh mountain surroundings, so the environment continues to matter when the action moves into a tighter space. These contributions make Harlin’s taste for force effective: we can understand a movement and feel how difficult it is. A few artificial-looking effects briefly weaken the danger, but the action has enough variety to sustain the film. The limitation is how little the pauses add. Stallone and Michael France’s screenplay gives the characters too much borrowed-sounding action dialogue, and Harlin does not make those exchanges more interesting than their next physical task. Trevor Jones’s music sometimes presses for excitement that the climbing has already supplied; when fighting, cutting and score all insist at once, the force becomes tiring. Harlin’s reputation for inconsistency makes sense when such clear staging can sit beside such indifferent talk. For an evening of mountain peril, we recommend *Cliffhanger*; accept that the conversations are mostly something to wait through. ## Biography Renny Harlin is a Finnish film director and producer, also credited as Renny Lauri Mauritz Harjola or Lauri Harjola. Born on 15 March 1959 in Riihimäki, Finland, he studied at the University of Art and Design Helsinki and began his career directing commercials and short films in Finland before moving to the United States in the mid-1980s. He directed *A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master* (1988) and *Die Hard 2* (1990). Other films include *Cliffhanger* (1993), on which he also served as producer, *The Long Kiss Goodnight* (1996) and *Deep Blue Sea* (1999). *Cliffhanger* received three Academy Award nominations. He holds dual Finnish and United States citizenship. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, metacritic.com.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *Cliffhanger* (1993), Fi1m 74, Director, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/cliffhanger.md) - *Die Hard 2* (1990), Fi1m 70, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/die-hard-2.md) ## Complete filmography (50) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *The Beast* (2026), Director - *Deep Water* (2026), as Ship Radio Dispatcher (voice) · Director - *The Strangers: Chapter 3* (2026), Director - *The Strangers* (2026), Director - *The Strangers: Chapter 2* (2025), Director - *The Strangers: Chapter 1* (2024), Director - *The Bricklayer* (2023), Director - *Refuge* (2023), Director, Producer - *Reunion 3: Singles Cruise* (2021), Director, Screenplay - *The Misfits* (2021), Director - *Bodies at Rest* (2019), Director - *Legend of the Ancient Sword* (2018), Director - *Skiptrace* (2016), Director - *The Legend of Hercules* (2014), as Officer Linus (uncredited) · Director, Writer, Producer - *Graceland* (2013), series, Director - *The Dyatlov Pass Incident* (2013), Director, Producer - *5 Days of War* (2011), Director, Producer - *The Resident* (2011), Executive Producer - *Covert Affairs* (2010), series, Director - *White Collar* (2009), series, Director - *12 Rounds* (2009), Director - *Cleaner* (2007), Director - *Burn Notice* (2007), series, Director - *The Covenant* (2006), Director - *Exorcist: The Beginning* (2004), Director - *Mindhunters* (2004), Executive Producer, Director - *Driven* (2001), as Replacement Driver · Producer, Director - *Deep Blue Sea* (1999), Director - *Blast from the Past* (1999), Producer - *Johtaja Uuno Turhapuro pisnismies* (1998), as Renny Harlin - *Mistrial* (1996), Executive Producer - *The Long Kiss Goodnight* (1996), Director, Producer - *Cutthroat Island* (1995), Director, Producer - *Speechless* (1994), Producer - *The Foot Shooting Party* (1994), Executive Producer - *Cliffhanger* (1993), Director, Producer — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/cliffhanger.md) - *Rambling Rose* (1991), Producer - *Raptori Moe!* (1990), Actor - *The Adventures of Ford Fairlane* (1990), Director - *Die Hard 2* (1990), Director — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/die-hard-2.md) - *A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master* (1988), as Student (uncredited) · Director - *Prison* (1987), Director - *Born American* (1986), as Man's Voice from Ship's Loudspeakers (uncredited) (voice) · Screenplay, Director, Stunt Double - *The Breakthrough* (1981), as Police officer (uncredited) - *Kohtauspaikka 33* (1981), Director, Producer - *Custody* (1980), Writer, Director - *Inspector Palmu*, Director, Writer - *Black Tides*, Director - *Trial by Combat*, Director - *Carrier*, Producer ## Gallery - ![Don Bigileone and Renny Harlin in front of the karaoke bar Wallis in Helsinki, Finland on 28th of June 2017](https://film.one/media/person/92863/gallery-4bb2b6153af4.jpg) Don Bigileone and Renny Harlin in front of the karaoke bar Wallis in Helsinki, Finland on 28th of June 2017 — Don Bigileone, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Renny_Harlin.jpg/1280px-Renny_Harlin.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Don Bigileone and Renny Harlin in front of the karaoke bar Wallis in Helsinki, Finland on 28 June 2017](https://film.one/media/person/92863/gallery-c65981a373bb.jpg) Don Bigileone and Renny Harlin in front of the karaoke bar Wallis in Helsinki, Finland on 28 June 2017 — Don Bigileone, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9e/Renny_Harlin_%28cropped%29.jpg/1280px-Renny_Harlin_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Don Bigileone and Renny Harlin in front of the karaoke bar Wallis in Helsinki, Finland on 28th of June 2017](https://film.one/media/person/92863/gallery-2125dddf0694.jpg) Don Bigileone and Renny Harlin in front of the karaoke bar Wallis in Helsinki, Finland on 28th of June 2017 — Don Bigileone, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Renny_Harlin_2_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Renny Harlin](https://film.one/media/person/92863/gallery-e5b880673445.jpg) Renny Harlin — Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/97/Renny_Harlin_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg/1280px-Renny_Harlin_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Renny Harlin](https://film.one/media/person/92863/gallery-fc4b21ae98f5.jpg) Renny Harlin — Image via TMDB - ![Renny Harlin](https://film.one/media/person/92863/gallery-de11e32c4f5c.jpg) Renny Harlin — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Other awards — 0 won, 1 nominated - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director 1991: Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director (nominated), for *The Adventures of Ford Fairlane* *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/renny-harlin