Disappointing
Summary
Despite all the talent involved Cleaner doesn’t do much to be especially memorable; Daisy Ridley does a nice job and her character is appealing. I just wish there was more action in the first half and less CG explosions. There are worse ways to spend a Saturday night or you could just watch Die Hard again instead.
Plot: Hoping to expose corruption, radical activists take 300 hostages at an energy company’s annual gala in a high-rise building. Their cause soon gets hijacked by an extremist within their ranks who’s ready to kill everyone. It’s now up to a former soldier who works as a window cleaner to save the hostages trapped inside, including her younger brother.
Review: It’s a sad day when the director of two of the best Bond movies (Martin Campbell who helmed Goldeneye/Casino Royale) is relegated to movies that go straight to digital with zero fanfare.
I was contacted by a PR company a few months back asking if I wanted to interview Daisy Ridley for her new movie, Cleaner; I thought “wow, that would be amazing!” and of course I agreed. A few days later they responded saying “well her people said no”. Gosh, I dunno maybe confirm with her people before contacting me and wasting my time. Anyway, I then moved on and forgot this movie existed until I saw it show up to rent on Prime last night.
After watching Cleaner I understand why it hasn’t had much hype as it feels like a straight to video movie with its CG explosions and lack of big set-pieces.
Daisy Ridley makes for an appealing lead whose mission in this movie is to save her autistic brother Michael from a group of eco terrorists (lead by Clive Owen) holding her employers hostage. His second in command Noah (Taz Skylar) is truly psychotic and practically steals the show.
I was expecting this to be a Die Hard clone and it kind of is except Daisy spends the first hour of the movie hanging outside the building trying to get in. It’s only the last 30 minutes when we get some fight scenes, but thankfully the film is only 90 minutes long and has a few tense moments to keep things moving.
The performances all round are strong but it takes too long before we get to see Daisy take out the trash and it’s all a bit forgettable. The environmental message is admirable, but it feels like the best elements of the film are taken from other, better movies.
Overall, Cleaner has some entertaining moments in the last half hour and Daisy Ridley is a likeable lead, but the lack of decent action for the first half of the film makes it a bit too generic and it will likely soon be forgotten. Martin Campbell deserves better…