Cleaner

Cleaner is a blaned action movie looks alike any Grindstone Entertainment Group direct-to-video film but on a limited run in my cinema, good for you scrambled that in the cinemas watch list. With a script that recycling every idea from a variety of box-office hits. Despite a talented cast and skilled director, it's little more than a spliced-together version of better films-specifically, riffs on the Die Hard (1988) scenario, where a single hero fights off terrorists in an isolated location. Most of such copycats & borrows followed in the 1990s and innovated with unique settings, such as a Navy battleship in Under Siege (1992), a plane in Passenger 57 (1992), a mountain in Cliffhanger (1993), a bus in Speed (1994), a hockey stadium in Sudden Death (1995), and the twin White House examples from 2013, Olympus Has Fallen and White House Down. I have seen so many movies like this that the subgenre has moved beyond mere variations on a theme and entered the realm of mind-numbing cliche, mainly because studios seldom attempt to deviate from a proven formula. A great movie may yet come along and revive the concept, but Cleaner is not. This was only a one-time watch, not thinking about this movie and not going to bother having it on vod because it would consider be a bust. 5.5/10 the action is good but characters dialogue is demanding sometimes.

TL;DR, not great but okay, but man do some things get to me.

Look I've seen my fair share of bad action films, believe me I'm a sucker for poorly written films.

This movie isn't good narrativly, I'll say that, but it atleast managed to do some things right that made it a step above other bad action films. It tried to take time to build its characters, it wasn't incredibly one-note, and it didn't just jump straight into the action/fights but took the time to build toward it.

The one thing that really gets me is the final confrontation. It doesn't feel like one at all. Just a quick little fight, and boom, the movie ends. Also, not really a fan of the depiction of Autism in the film. It kind of plays into the stereotype that people with Autism are just infantile.

Overall, not great but okay, but man do some things get to me.

The film follows Joey, a window cleaner on a skyscraper. When her building is taken over by terrorists, it's up to Joey to take it back. Is this movie a Die Hard copy? Yeah. Is that a bad thing in and of itself? Not necessarily. Lots of movies have the same Premise and are still entertaining. Now, to be fair, I can watch almost anything and be entertained. The problem is that it takes way too long to get going, to the point that I was so bored by the time things actually started to happen. The terrorists are idiots, and so are the cops. The terrorists are so boring and bland. And the main star is on the sidelines for about half the movie. This had constant action. This has very little action until the end. Also, I love that the leader of the police is just happy to give Joey all the information about what is going on. Daisy Ridley unfairly gets a lot of hate for some of her movies. But I actually think she's a really good actor. I loved Marsh King Daughter, Young Woman and the Sea, and Murder on the Orient Express. Even in some of her lesser films, like the Star Wars sequels, she does well with what she is given. However, this movie gives her almost nothing to work with, not even her character. Hopefully, she can get better scripts moving forward. They needed a bigger budget for the action scene and a lot of rewrites. Overall, I would skip this one unless it's on a streaming service you pay for, and even then, it's probably best as background noise.

I'm a big fan of Daisey and also Clive Owen and the Director Martin Campbell (Casino Royal) - but this lame rip off script has little character development or arc - and instead it's just another Hollyweird movie that swaps out Bruce Willis for a chick with a gun. Daisey definitely deserves better scripts as this B script is a direct to video with no real substance and the actors cleaned out Hollywood for a nice pay check. Maybe the suits will learn to make original scripts instead of more rip offs. What's next Ramba - the female Stallone warrior.

At least Clive Owen was smart enough to take a fast paycheck and disappear early in the story so go in with super low expectations and just laugh at the preposterous plot but the action is solid if you can stop laughing at how silly the story actually transpires with one dimensional main character and silly eco terror villains from a cracker box. Maybe AI generated script.

Good news is that Michael Stratham ( Mechanic series) or Charlize Theron ( Atomic series) has nothing to worry about from competition from this lame film.

5 stars for the lead actors and director.

In 1988, one of the best action movies ever was released - Die Hard, which was groundbreaking, and is still fun to watch today.

Since it was released 37 years ago, many movies have tried to replicate its success. Some have succeeded, some have not.

The movie Cleaner tries to be the "Die Hard" of 2025, but it fails to do so.

The plot is not convincing or interesting enough, nor are the few action moments.

Despite everything, I did like the idea that the heroine of the film is a window cleaner. This is undoubtedly the film's strong point, but that's where it ends.

In conclusion, I would not recommend running to watch this movie. The acting is mediocre, there is not much action, and overall it is a movie that you can skip.