Cleaner

I am starting to picture meetings in random studio offices where the next action star is being crowned. It seems the story formula to make that happen is pretty simple: take a regular person, put them in a life-or-death situation, only to find out they used to be special forces or something. This has been done with Bob Odenkirk in Nobody and more recently with Ke Huy Quan in Love Hurts, so who might be on deck next? It seems to be Daisy Ridley, who already has some action pedigree from playing Rey in the last three Star Wars films. But does she have what it takes to bring life into something that is starting to feel stale?

Joey (Daisy Ridley) appears to be someone who doesn’t have her life together, but like most things, what you see on the surface is not always the whole story. Joey is the primary guardian of Michael (Matthew Tuck), her autistic brother, who is getting kicked out of yet another school. Already late for work, Joey has to pick up Michael, and after her pleas fall on deaf ears, she is forced to take him with her. She barely makes it work on time with him in tow, leaving him in the care of a friend downstairs while she heads to her job as a window cleaner.

It seems like a normal day—until everything changes. A group of masked men storm a party and take everyone hostage. The group appears to be led by a man (Clive Owen), but also includes a fellow employee, Noah (Taz Skyler), who Joey was once close with. They picked the wrong building to attack, though, because Joey is not who she appears to be, and she will do whatever it takes to keep her brother safe.

Written by Matthew Orton, Simon Uttley, and Paul Andrew Williams, Cleaner gives you a strong sense of déjà vu with its plot, as it seems to pull its ideas straight from the Die Hard playbook. Most of the characters feel like carbon copies of every villain from a ’90s action movie, and of course, our hero just happens to be in the right place at the right time with the right set of skills. Not everything is by the book though, as Cleaner actually has a few surprises up its sleeve, but its subplots aren’t fleshed out as much as they could have been.

Directed by Martin Campbell, who has churned out some great action films over the past 30 years still shows some signs of having the goods. However its by-the-numbers script that really holds his latest film back. For her part, Ridley proves she has what it takes to be an action star, as she is more than convincing in the action scenes. Unfortunately, she just can’t overcome the material she’s been given, which also feels like it wraps up rather quickly due to its ninety-minute runtime. This would have been much better if it had just focused on Ridley kicking ass, but instead, we spend too much time with cops who seem incapable of solving anything. And with Clive Owen and his minions who are equally less interesting as the cops, this keeps the film from being something special. Ultimately, Cleaner does enough to be entertaining, thanks to Ridley and the steady direction of Martin Campbell, so you just might not care to much if they missed a few spots.