Cleaner, 2025.
Directed by Martin Campbell.
Starring Daisy Ridley, Clive Owen, Taz Skylar, Flavia Watson, Ray Fearon, Rufus Jones, Richard Hope, Lee Boardman, Stella Stocker, Atanas Srebrev, Celine Arden, Akie Kotabe, Poppy Townsend White, Andreea Diac, Rachel Kwok, Lorna Lowe, Cassandra Spiteri, Frances Katz, Mélissa Humler, Ben Essex, and Karin Carlson.
SYNOPSIS:
Criminal activists hijack a gala, taking 300 hostages. One extremist plans mass murder as a message to the world. An Ex-soldier turned window cleaner now works to rescue the hostages.
When Daisy Ridley’s Joey Locke was a young girl (Poppy Townsend White) growing up in a tumultuous household with parents abusive toward her autistic brother Michael, she would sneakily and silently climb around the apartment home, eventually reaching a windowsill to sit on while dangling her feet over the edge. Naturally, this was for escapist purposes, but also understandably drove a rift between the siblings. It’s a habit that would pave the way for her unglamorous future occupation as a skyscraper cleaner in director Martin Campbell’s straight-to-the-point, double entendre titled Cleaner; Joey also happens to be a disgraced military veteran, something that will come into play in this thrilling throwback actioner with a creative premise.
In present-day London, Joey is running late for work and has also received notice that her brother Michael (Matthew Tuck) has been kicked out of the caretaking facility he was unceremoniously shoved off into. Apparently, he is a skilled hacker who also deals with anxiety and paranoia, under the impression that the staff were stealing from him. The point is that Michael has nowhere to go and does not have a high enough level of functioning autism to be alone unsupervised, meaning the now irritated Joey is forced to bring him in to work. Already hours behind schedule, Joey puts Michael under the watch of a friendly doorman before heading up to her unsympathetic boss in the control room, where he gives her a series of grueling cleaning jobs to work her way through.
On the way up the elevator, Joey also comes into contact with one of the heartless owners of the skyscraper. This man also runs a renewable energy company preparing for a gala later in the evening. Several high-ranking business associates will also be on hand, with the gist being that the whole operation is a corrupt grift running on the lies of others, such as an influential climate change denier. During this, Joey is either still in the outside lift (with her access to its controls overridden) or using her rappel gear to clean the glass walls, with a view of an activist terrorism takeover situation with hostages under anesthesia. Only the billionaires are woken up and threatened to confess their crimes to make a difference for a damaged planet.
While that sounds noble in theory, perturb Noah (Taz Skylar) takes out the levelheaded leader (Clive Owen), ready to take more extreme measures to ensure his warped perception of justice that involves murdering innocents and cleansing the world, similar to pop culture phenomenon villain Thanos in the Marvel movies. The film itself makes a point to express that the autistic Michael is a fan of those blockbusters (spending most of his time hiding and trying to find a way to help his sister), and whether intentional or not (I have a hunch Martin Campbell doesn’t actually care about those movies), makes a reasonably damning case that anyone who did find merit in the finger-snapping baddie’s plans is also a whack job, just like the sociopathic Noah. It’s fascinating to get a grounded take on that perspective, and its innate cruelty should have been evident even within fantasy storytelling.
While these villains have mostly broad, one-dimensional personalities, it is also welcome that Cleaner is attempting to create a dynamic where their cause is righteous (at least until there is dissension in the ranks.) It could also be argued that the film stops short of doing anything radical with its politics to crowdplease through suspense and action. Still, there is some forgiveness for that, considering this clever Die Hard riff delivers on that front.
Martin Campbell (working with screenwriters Matthew Orton, Simon Uttley, and Paul Andrew Williams) challenges themselves without cheating their way out of the concept. Joey is stuck inside the outside lift and must use her wits to do reconnaissance, escape a perilous, dangling situation, and then put forth her military background to save her brother, the hostages, and the day. It’s a resourceful performance demanding multiple types of physicality and acrobatic maneuverability, with Daisy Ridley not afraid to get gritty in the one-on-one encounters. On top of that, those battles are tensely staged and adrenaline-fueled.
Even the inclusion of an autistic brother, which starts as if it might quickly go south and regressive, turns out to be a pleasant touch, coming with a heroic moment or two. For a film as hilariously convoluted as this, it also works because Martin Campbell uses any preposterous turn of events (such as how Joey gets stuck in an inoperable lift in the first place) to service its tantalizing, crackerjack premise.
Cleaner also happens to be an unfortunately depressing sign of the times. Pre-pandemic, there is no way it would not have distribution from a major studio opening it on 2,000 screens, especially not with a revered action filmmaker such as Martin Campbell attached. This film deserves to find an audience; 10 or 15 years ago, it would entertain at multiplexes and likely do solid box office numbers. The whole Hollywood system needs cleaning.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association, Critics Choice Association, and Online Film Critics Society. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews and follow my BlueSky or Letterboxd
