Cleaner
Dustin Chase
Not to be confused with the 2007 American thriller of the same name, this “Cleaner” is a British action flick from Martin Campbell. The hit-and-miss director has been tethered to the action genre for the better part of his career. Hitting some high points with Bond films like “Goldeneye” and “Casino Royale”, and then some very low points on “Green Lantern” and “Memory.” “Star Wars” alum Daisy Ridley headlines here, still struggling to surmount a viable career outside the galaxy. The three screenwriters have penned absolutely nothing of note or success, and that’s where things start to get murky for “Cleaner,” a shell of an old ’90s takeover plot, gassing a room of evil millionaires. “We don’t want your money; we want to save the world.” The modern spin is climate change fanatics.
Accountability plagues Joey Locke (Ridley), while her brother Michael (Matthew Tuck) suffers from autism. Late for work, her motorcycle won’t start, and Michael has been kicked out of a third care home. These obstacles are a warmup for the bad day the ex-soldier turned window cleaner is about to experience. A team of well-planned and deadly anti-humanists takes over Agnian, a billion-dollar climate-denier company. They demand that each high-ranking member confess their willful misinformation at gunpoint, to be broadcast across the world. Joey watches the situation go down on the window washing cradle over a hundred floors in the air. She becomes the authorities’ only hope to diffuse the situation and avoid mass casualties.
An hour into the 90-minute film, Joey is still hanging on the side of the building.
The film opens in a very chaotic way, showcasing Joey’s inability to function in life. All are supposed to be ironic given the situation she’s soon to be in. Aside from that frantic introduction to her life situation, the remainder of the film takes place at Agnian headquarters. An hour into the 90-minute film, Joey is still hanging on the side of the building. If you know anything about filmmaking, you start to worry that Ridley and Oscar Nominee Clive Owen (who amounts to nothing more than a glorified cameo) are marquee name bait for a film that was never intended for more than filler.
A classic February dumping ground flick if there ever was one, “Cleaner” switches lanes from poor screenwriting to a lot of “it just happens…” moments. The only partially well-written character is our villain, played by Taz Skylar. His motives of wanting to kill himself and rid the planet of all humans are a hostage negotiator’s worst nightmare. All the action is contained in the final twenty minutes, although it’s just generic fight scene stuff. “Cleaner” lacks any single memorable element in the action genre, rarely offering viewers a reason to keep watching.
Final Thought
90-minute action thriller with a one hour lead in.