R | 1h 37m | Action, Thriller | 2025
“Cleaner” is director Martin Campbell’s latest feature. He directed “Casino Royale.” This disappointing “Die Hard” rip-off combines ho-hum action with a lukewarm message about modern-day terrorism. A loud, Liam Neeson-like, and simplistic action-thriller, “Cleaner” wastes the fetching Daisy Ridley’s decent performance.
Former Soldier
Ex-soldier-turned-window-cleaner Joey Locke (Ridley) has an autistic brother to look after, and she’s having a bad day. It gets much worse when a group of eco-terrorists take over the skyscraper she works in—or rather, on. As the terrorists take out her normally horrible and complaining bosses, one by one, they start appreciating her very particular skillset.
But we have to stroll through the thinly-plotted story for close to an hour before we get any decent action. Why? Because Joey is made to sit helplessly in her window-cleaner rig, hundreds of feet off the deck, while bad guys shoot people in the head. Just imagine if Bruce Willis’s John McClane had to sit in the elevator for an hour instead of figuring out how to yippee-ki-yay Hans Gruber’s German terrorists.
Fire Ridley’s Agent, Please
Daisy Ridley successfully holds the center of the film even though she’s on the outside of the building, which is a neat trick. When she joins the fight, the film comes to life, somewhat. Campbell gives us some decent close combat that the movie sorely needs.
While there are a few tantalizing “Oh yeah!” moments recalling Ridley’s Jedi training (she reportedly did many of her own stunts), there’s also some head-scratcher fight-choreography—who jumps down out of the rafters and pops a plastic bag over a bad guy’s head for a nice suffocation move, only to decide a rear-naked choke might be a better solution? I now want to know why Brazilian jiu-jitsu dojos around the globe don’t teach this genius plastic bag move.
Campbell does manage to highlight that this is an actor and not a stunt double performing these precision moves, but why aren’t there more? Campbell must have been ultimately uninspired by this low-budget affair.
“Cleaner” is a perfectly serviceable time waster for a plane rides, but it’s also another weak entry in the filmography of a powerhouse actress with an apparently clueless agent. Ridley might need to undergo an extensive repackaging and branding campaign.
Most non-actor’s jaws would hit the floor if they were aware of how much time and detail-oriented effort goes into the process of branding an actor with such specificity that literally no one else does what they do. The general public is used to actors claiming they don’t want to be type-cast, but that’s only the cream-of-the-crop A-listers at the very tippy-top of the business, and even most of that is just talk. Generally, one wants to be known for a very specific thing, so when that category, in a script, hits an agents’ desk, a very specific actor gets the call.
Daisy Ridley is the perky, pretty British actress who does Liam Neeson roles. It’s not a bad gig. Most actresses would give their right arm to be in her kung fu-kicking shoes. But “Cleaner” is not special. But this is normally a decent director! But that’s just how the cookie sometimes crumbles in showbiz.
