Star Wars actor Daisy Ridley and Casino Royale director Martin Campbell team-up for the middling action caper Cleaner.
If you’re looking for action in a motion picture, you’ll want to avoid waiting seventy-six minutes into a ninety-seven-minute movie for kicks and punches. However, if you just want to see Daisy Ridley try throw hands on an across the pond, gender bender remix of Die Hard, then Cleaner is for you.
When Joanne “Joey” Locke (Ridley) is late for work as a window cleaner at a London high-rise building because of her hacker autistic brother, Michael (Matthew Tuck), Joey makes up for her lost hour while a fancy shareholder gala is held. Unfortunately, it’s the worst night on the job when Marcus Blake (Clive Owen) and his band of eco-terrorists decide to take everyone hostage to compel them to confess to climate change crimes. Unaware that Joey is outside, the night doesn’t go according to plan for anyone, not the terrorists or cops.
The clean-up crew.
Cleaner has an ensemble problem. It simultaneously gives too much information about characters who are not important and too little about characters who are. It feels like a lot of material was left on the cutting room floor, especially about the hostage takers. Remember when Owen was hot and meant a movie was decent? Those were the days. His Marcus character has a vision, but there’s a plot twist about the group that only works if viewers remember the character after seeing him for a few seconds.
Ridley deserves better material than Cleaner, but she works hard as if the project is worth her efforts. She’s certainly got action hero chops thank to three Star Wars films under her belt. With a smile like Keira Knightley, but a steeliness like Lena Headey, Ridley has the stuff to be a star. Unfortunately, forgettable, anti-climactic projects like this don’t do her any favors. In conventional action films, unlike men, women cannot just kick ass; they must be nurturing so they are not seen as hard and become unlikeable. It’s not enough to save her brother, but she must have a change of heart and want to be a joyful caretaker. Parentification, party for one! If everyone is coming for a woman action star, then don’t drag down the momentum with someone that isn’t as interesting or more than the hero.
No offense to Tuck, but no one will find Michael to be a memorable highpoint in Cleaner. While it’s admirable to stress how autistic people value justice and are crucial segments of society, the depiction of meltdowns is uneven. Instead of reactions to overstimulation, it feels more petulant and poorly-timed. It would’ve been cool if the writers had teased a storyline where it turned out Joey is also autistic. Women are under-diagnosed, forced to mask, and eventually quit jobs, but are also socialized into performing as more functional, otherwise bear the brunt of negative reactions while male counterparts are comparatively cared for. It would have explained her need for justice, persistent demand for autonomy, desire for being alone, choosing unconventional jobs (especially for her gender) and disastrous executive functioning. Alas this thread is never explored, and it’s a missed opportunity if they were aiming for a PSA about disabilities.
Recycled materials.
Director Martin Campbell does a good enough job. The London skyline looks great while some of the death-defying scenes feature solid choreography. If Campbell’s name sounds familiar, he directed top-tier action flicks including GoldenEye, Casino Royale, and The Legend of Zorro. Lately, his credits include the muddled action of The Foreigner (with an unconventionally serious Jackie Chan) and the disastrous Green Lantern. So he brings high highs and low lows to the table.
Basically, the lesson of Cleaner is that environmentalists are evil, homicidal maniacs. Sure the elites may be corrupt, but they’re real people too. The movie hammers the message home while clutching its pearls at the idea that violence is the answer. While movies have always proliferated this message, the timing is not great and feels as if United Healthcare sponsored the movie. No need to get political. It could have been a heist, even a personal grudge against the movie’s sibling CEOs, could have expanded one of the movie’s themes on sibling bonds. Nope, it must be evil environmentalists. Got it. No hidden message here.
Two of the henchmen are interesting. In her big screen debut in front of the camera (not only as a stunt person), Melissa Humler makes a good impression as one of more zealous terrorists and aims for that Zoe Bell award, running around the movie like it mattered. Her exceptional fight scene steals the movie and is worthy of many future roles. Flavia Watson, the environmentalist hacker, also got the top-secret script where she was in a good movie and had dimensions of conflict to her character, but alas, that script did not get the green light.
The bottom line.
If you’re desperate to watch an action film and support Ridley so she can get better gigs, go for it, but there are so many better films out there that offer more action. Even the middling but adequate Captain America: Brave New World packs more punch. Instead of having a heavy-handed story with messages as if we were watching an Afterschool Special for adults, Cleaner should have allowed Ridley to say “yippee-ki-yay mother***ker,” recruit the next Alan Rickman to be the Big Bad and been more fun. Ridley has the chops to deliver those lines and stick the landing, but the script she’s got is anything but spotless.
Cleaner is now playing in select theaters. Watch the trailer here.
Images courtesy of Quiver Distribution. Read more reviews by Sarah G. Vincent here.
REVIEW RATING
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Cleaner - 6/10
6/10
Originally from NYC, freelance writer Sarah G. Vincent arrived in Cambridge in 1993 and was introduced to the world of repertory cinema while working at the Harvard Film Archives. Her work has appeared in Cambridge Day, newspapers, law journals, review websites and her blog, sarahgvincentviews.com.
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