Where Is Renny Harlin?

With a dry Finnish wit, he was one of my favorite directors of the late 90’s. His credits included “The Adventures of Ford Fairlane,” “Cliffhanger,” “Die Hard 2” and “The Long Kiss Goodnight.” I saw him one time a LONG time ago. I think it was a screening at the Cineramadome in Hollywood for “Fight Club” with his girlfriend at the time, actress Geena Davis. Both are humongous people. Over 6 feet tall. Geena was made bigger by heels.

After “Cutthroat Island” guy disappeared. The movie was a HUGE bust. Then I recall him doing “Driven,” “Deep Blue Sea” and a few more that never got him back to the top. He was the go-to guy supported by then super power producer Joel Silver. He had the toy box opened. But as with most Hollywood stories, once you become seen in the past, you are in the past. And that is so very sad. Because Renny truly loves movies. You only have to listen to his commentary to hear he’s a student of filmmaking. He talks about the process understanding that film students or wannabes are desperate to learn how Hollywood does it. And he does it clinically. He understands the nature of the beast. I’d love to pick his brain one day about the politics, because it’s hard not to believe he’s seen it all.

Conversely, what the fuck is David Fincher still making movies? I’ve revisited a few of his movies again. They aren’t good. Craft wise, they are really well done, but a movie like “Fight Club” is really overrated. I remember when that movie came out I watched it a lot. When it came out on DVD, I watched it once a week. I think that’s the problem with Fincher movies: he is the zeitgeist director. The fad seems to be what he wants to examine. He is of the time. And it makes sense, because, frankly, he is a commercial film director. They give you information in chunks. Which is not to say this is not good filmmaking. It just fools you into believing it’s more cerebral than it actually is. I understand the criticism now, over a decade later. “Fight Club” is a whiny chest thumping, turtle-on-its-back declaration from divorced children. So disgusted by the system that supposedly let us down. I laugh now as a 40 year old. It somehow proved we love a person who says radical things (hopefully you love reading this blog).

The two of Fincher’s flicks, I think hold up, are the ones that are more plot driven. “The Game” & “Panic Room” are still good movies. Fincher movies seem to be very meticulously crafted. As if someone took a hold of a wet rag and rung out every drop possible. There isn’t a hair out of place, nor camera not where it needs to be. His movies seem to strangle the fun out of…well…movies. And it doesn’t seem like any of his movies were fun to make. Even “Cutthroat Island” seemed to be fun. “Panic Room “ felt like torture to deal with (which has been confirmed that it was).

I’m not sure what Fincher’s end game is. He gets a ton of space now to make his movies. I was curious about “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” shot for shot remake. I wondered why he would even take this on. It seemed as if he wanted to dissect what rape must be like and the repercussions of it. Same with “Gone Girl.” It seemed like he wrapped his entire movie over two ideas. What it would be like to kill someone while fucking them, and the second…the mental picture of marriage means different things to different people, and you can justify heinous behavior to preserve it. Does that sound like fun?

Where is Renny Harlin when you need him?