Cleaner

There is something undeniably charming about watching a movie that knows exactly what it is and yet tries to do a little more. Cleaner is exactly that: a tight, well-oiled and slightly ridiculous action thriller that gives a shameless nod to Die Hard while carving out a little place for itself in the genre. You go into this movie expecting nothing more than a classic hero-versus-many-foes showdown, and you find yourself invested, not just in the shootouts and the stunts where windows shatter, but also in the beating heart at the center of it all: Joey Locke, played to perfection by Daisy Ridley. Directed by action master Martin Campbell, whose legacy includes GoldenEye and Casino Royale, Cleaner is the kind of B-movie with A-list energy that hits the mark, especially when it's based on solid character work and emotional resonance. Martin Campbell isn't reinventing the wheel, but rather showing us that he still knows how to turn it with determination.

Watching Cleaner, one can't help but think of the overlooked workers we pass every day, those people dangling outside our office buildings, cleaning the windows so we can gaze out at the city and pretend we're in control. Joey is one of those people, until his world descends into chaos. The first scenes are deceptively understated: a late arrival at work, a reprimand from his boss and the eviction of his brother Michael from another care facility. But these small moments are textured, charged with tension and traces of deeper wounds. The flashbacks to Joey's childhood - climbing into cupboards to escape the sound of the abuse, perching on a ledge with headphones on to drown out the chaos - are not just there to set the mood. They are the basis for everything that comes after. It is this kind of patient character construction that elevates Cleaner above the average thriller. Daisy Ridley, in the role of an action heroine, carries the film with a discreet intensity that seems deserved. It is not a superhero story. It is the story of someone who is tired, imperfect and who is simply trying to do what is right - and this is very convincing.

The plot of the movie is as simple as it is effective: eco-terrorists, a corporate gala, the headquarters of a skyscraper. Joey, Ridley's character, finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time - or perhaps in the right place, depending on your point of view on narrative artifice - and must act from the outside in, literally. For much of the movie, Joey hangs outside the glass tower, helpless but not hopeless, forced to improvise to get inside. We appreciate the tactile quality of these sequences. Martin Campbell and his cinematographer Eigil Bryld capture the dizziness, the sweat, the uncertainty of every movement. The tension is not only in the gunshots or the explosions. It is in the silence between breaths, in Joey's gloved fingers sliding on the steel, in the slow realization that no one else is coming to help. This film also strangely recalls the rooftop scenes of Towering Inferno, not only the danger, but also the loneliness. And yet, through it all, Ridley anchors the action in personality. She doesn't portray Joey as a stoic warrior; she portrays her as someone who constantly adapts, sometimes uncertain, always moving forward.

The fraternal relationship at the heart of the film is largely responsible for its success. Michael, played with authenticity and empathy by Matthew Tuck, is neither a stereotype nor a simple plot device. He is a living, breathing, neurodivergent character, brilliant in a way that the world does not always understand, and deeply connected to Joey in a way that they are both still trying to understand. We have seen countless films try to include neurodivergent characters, and they often fall into the trap of making them either superhuman or powerless. Cleaner doesn't make that mistake. Michael is intelligent and also impulsive, anxious and stubborn, in other words, human. The bond between them is not based on melodrama, but on the kind of quiet, accumulated guilt and love that only siblings truly understand. There is a moment, towards the end of the movie, when Joey finally admits that she hasn't been the sister she should have been, and Michael shrugs, because he knows it and, in his own way, he has already forgiven her. That moment was stronger than any explosion in the movie.

As for the villains, Clive Owen plays Marcus, the face of the eco-activist group Earth Revolution, and although he doesn't have much screen time, he brings a gravity that makes you wish he had more. But it's Taz Skylar as Noah who steals the show - and not always in the best way. He is unstable, intense and sometimes verges on the caricatural. However, the ideological tension between Marcus and Noah - one fighting for awareness, the other for annihilation - adds a welcome touch to what could have been a monotonous festival of villains. That said, the film doesn't quite achieve its thematic objectives. It flirts with ideas about climate activism, corporate corruption and radicalization, but never fully commits to them. One gets the impression that the writers wanted to send a message, but didn't want to alienate the audience either. As someone who likes action movies to have a purpose, I would have liked Cleaner to be bolder. There is a version of this story that hits harder if it isn't afraid to choose a side. But that's a minor criticism of a film that otherwise maintains a steady pace and personal stakes.

The action itself is typical Ridley: clean, precise, never forgiving. When the third act begins, and Joey has finally emerged from the scaffolding and into the building, things pick up. There's a big fight scene where she uses a wrench as a weapon, not because it's flashy, but because it's practical - and that sums up the approach to the action in the movie. Nothing seems gratuitous. Ridley doesn't magically transform into a killing machine. She gets hurt. She bleeds. She improvises. And this realism makes her victories feel earned. I also liked the way the film handled the verticality of the setting. Too often in “skyscraper” movies, the location is wasted. Not here. Martin Campbell uses the height as a character, as a threat and as a metaphor. Joey has always climbed, always sought to achieve something, always been on the verge of collapse, and this resonates beyond the literal meaning.

Cleaner doesn't try to change the genre. It simply tries to do it properly, as well as its characters. It has guts, heart and an exceptional performance by Daisy Ridley that reminds us why she deserves more leading roles outside a galaxy far, far away. Are the dialogues sometimes clumsy? Of course. Are there clichés? Of course. But for every line that seems too obvious, there's a moment that feels lived in. For every twist you see coming, there's an emotional moment you didn't see coming. And honestly, in a sea of soulless blockbusters and overstuffed franchises, I much prefer a well-made 96-minute thriller with a human core.

Cleaner may not revolutionize the genre, but it deserves its place among the best spiritual cousins of Die Hard. And if you've ever looked at a skyscraper and wondered what happened to the people on the outside, maybe next time you'll think of Joey Locke, who fights to save his life, not only to save others, but also to finally take back control of his own. For us, it's definitely the kind of action movie that makes an impression and that we like to discover ideally in the cinema on the big screen.

Cleaner
Directed by Martin Campbell
Written by Simon Uttley, Paul Andrew Williams, Matthew Orton
Produced by Michael Kuhn, Gavin Glendinning, Sebastien Raybaud, Callum Christopher Grant, Thomas Fanning, Chris Arthur, Cindy Cowan
Starring Daisy Ridley, Taz Skylar, Clive Owen
Cinematography: Eigil Bryld
Edited by Jim Page, Cheryl Potter
Music by Tom Hodge
Production companies: Anton, Qwerty Films
Distributed by Quiver Distribution (United States), Sky Cinema (UK)
Release dates: February 21, 2025 (United States), April 2025 (United Kingdom)
Running time: 98 minutes

Viewed March 21, 2025 (VOD)

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