Directed By Martin Campbell

Starring – Daisy Ridley, Clive Owen, Taz Skylar

The Plot – Set in present-day London, a group of radical activists take over an energy company’s annual gala, seizing 300 hostages in order to expose the corruption of the hosts. Their just cause is hijacked by an extremist within their ranks, who is ready to murder everyone in the building to send his anarchic message to the world. It falls to an ex-soldier (Ridley) turned window cleaner, suspended 50 stories up on the outside of the building, to save those trapped inside, including her younger brother.

Rated R for violence, adult language throughout, and brief drug use.

Cleaner | Official Trailer

POSITIVES

This is another shining example of Ridley depth as a gifted actress, primarily as an action star whose petite frame and cat-like agility makes her feel like a force to be reckoned with, despite a screenplay that does very little for her establishing characterization. Between battle-tested resiliency involving swiftly crisp choreography and eagerly energetic charisma that never withers, regardless of the over-arching odds against her, Daisy does succeed as a commanding protagonist force whom we not only invest in, but downright cheer for, and with a physical transformation that feels twice as physical or brutal as anything that she did as Rey in the “Star Wars” franchise, we come to understand that she’s an actress who refuses to rest on the laurels of being another familiar face, even in a movie that she’s far too good to be a part of. The same can be said for my first experience with Taz Skylar, who not only brings all of the maniacal mayhem and ruthlessness that we expect from terrorists, but also a moral ambiguity that continuously keeps the audience guessing from being the loose cannon that the script absolutely requires of him. Surprisingly, there were more interactions between he and Ridley than I was at least initially expecting, but the film’s quality is all the better for it during these brief but impactful instances, with each of the actors playing prominently off of one another with impeccable rivalrous chemistry, making the film’s few action sequences spring with the kind of intensity that only magnifies the stakes of what hangs overhead. On that front, the third act climax was easily the highlight of the movie for me, and that’s because the film finally remembers that it’s an action-first classified genre, so it gets to convincing its audience with well shot and energetically performed sequences that finally drive an anxiety factor to the interpretation of those watching from beyond. While nothing terribly impressive in production execution or long-take believability, the abruptly rampant brutality involving set pieces do play a key figure in capturing and keeping your attention, with absorbing sound designs that boldly convey both the blunt force and velocity of those involved, while helping to send the film’s closing moments on a bit of a high note compared to everything that came before it. Lastly, the script certainly makes some undesirable choices with its characters and conflict, but there’s one twist that happens midway through the movie that did surprisingly catch me off guard and show that this formulaic action thriller swimming in derivativeness does have capability to deconstruct conventionalism, even in small doses. The twist itself is kind of a big one, as the scope and motivation of this terrorist group changes with it, but even beyond that pulls the wool over the eyes of expectations in ways that I can only compare strangely to films like “Scream” or “Psycho”, with the selflessness and strength of one particular actor doing a service to the film’s integrity in ways that directors feel so afraid to embrace anymore.

NEGATIVES

Since the 90’s, there have been films that structurally have been compared to “Die Hard”, and then there’s films that downright rip off nearly every single aspect of that action thriller classic, and “Cleaner” definitely falls in the latter category, as this is a film that lives and dies by the air of its familiarity, with little in the way of originality to deviate away from that comparison. If it even attempted to match the unpredictability or vulnerability of its predecessor, then it could be admired for its ambition, but unfortunately there’s very little action until the climax, and what little there is feels artistically stifled by Campbell’s vision, with unnatural green-screen backdrops and direction towards cinematography that should feel like it’s quite literally living on the edge, but instead fails to capture the anxiety of the heights that leaves our protagonist on the outside looking in. This is quite surprising for the same man who directed “Casino Royale”, but not out of the realm of possibility, as consistency has been a problem for Campbell since then, and through the lens of uninspired photography that only accentuates the negatives while obscuring the positives, the scenes in the sky lack the kind of believability and grit that makes every action by our protagonist spring with unrelenting risk, and as a result underwhelms at the film’s single biggest angle, that doesn’t even feel relevant by the film’s midway point, as a result of how little uniqueness that they incorporate to the conflict. The script also doesn’t help Campbell’s efforts, as the entirety of the film feels emphatically rushed throughout every development and arising conflict for this window cleaner that should have her frequently outmatched and outwitted by her army of adversaries. I can understand and appreciate bottled urgency in an action thriller, as well as the need to never test audience patience, but it leaves my investment to characters and situations feeling especially strained if not enough time is spent fleshing them out to where their arrivals and impacts spring naturally, especially with the character outline of said terrorist antagonists, who I actually found myself rooting for with regards to why they’ve concocted such a terrifying plan. Part of the appeal of “Die Hard” was that the people inside were mostly innocent and helpless, so the decisions here to make those held captive as greedily corruptible and irredeemable as possible does nothing to convey the importance of the devastation taking shape, and if not for the sibling bond at the forefront of the narrative, Ridley’s character could’ve descended down to the ground floor in her window cart, gone home, and I wouldn’t of lost a second of sleep because of it. That’s not to say that the sibling subplot is even done exceptionally, as this is the second film in a weekend that has a strange sense of reality with what an autistic character should be presented as, but it does give Ridley someone and something worth fighting for, but unfortunately with a rushed consistency of the story’s sequencing, the antagonists never take advantage of this wild card in the back pocket that they control at all times, and as a result you can easily see where this film could come close to a two hour run time, but instead chooses the route of feeling like a harshly hemmed final cut with thirty minutes of deleted scenes on a home release’s special features. It’s also heavily predictable for more reasons than one, but the biggest of them being an initial backstory involving our protagonist as a child that we always know is meant to convey the capabilities that she shows off as an adult. Such examples of this show her climbing across the cabinets in her parents kitchen, which signifies her desire to be a climber, or the script’s need to point out her time in the special forces, despite the script spending no time of exposition on it, in order to signify how she’s capable of taking out an entire army by herself. This telegraphed intention maintains consistency throughout the duration of the film’s runtime, and with the dialogue pertaining to everything from Piers Morgan jokes to Avengers references, it doesn’t offer a lot of time to live and breathe alongside these characters, in order to gauge how you feel about them before things get crazy.

OVERALL
“Cleaner” immediately paints itself into a corner with the insurmountable task of comparing itself so closely to the iconic godfather of action thriller movies, but on its own merits emits another unconventional turn from Daisy Ridley and some third act intense action sequences that at least sends the film home on its highest altitudes. Unfortunately, the weight from a rushed surface level screenplay and flat direction from Martin Campbell keep the film and its audience on the outside looking in, with nothing innovative or daring enough to ascend its promise to the top floor.

My Grade: 5.1 or D+