Director: Martin Campbell
Writers: Matthew Orton, Simon Uttley, Paul Andrew Williams
Stars: Daisy Ridley, Clive Owen, Ray Fearon
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.
Cleaner is uniquely entertaining as it unravels from a high-stakes crime heist to a full-blown action thriller set in modern-day London. Centered around the life of an always running late, foul-mouthed ex-soldier who now cleans windows 50 floors up. While the film is sold as an action thriller, there’s plenty of heart to Cleaner that leaves a lasting impression long after guns blaze. Unfortunately where the action shines, the narrative complicates a rather straight and simple premise. If there’s anything to be said, it’s that Daisy Ridley was made for action.
Audiences first met Joey Locke (Ridley) in a flashback showing a family life that is nothing short of toxic. As she’s listening in on an argument between her loved ones, she’s climbing the cupboards of her home to escape her surroundings. Cleaner establishes early on that Joey has a troubled family life, yet highlights the importance her older brother Michael (Matthew Tuck) has, as the camera lingers on a photo of them. From a young age, Joey is shown to be a highly skilled climber with an ability to get herself out of situations when needed.
Flash ahead to the present day, Joey is a window cleaner for an powerhouse energy company run by two brothers, Geoffrey Milton (Rufus Jones) and Gerald Milton (Lee Boardman). As she is running late, which is made to seem like her normal behavior, she is interrupted by a family emergency about her older brother. True to form, Joey races to her brother’s aid, taking him to work with her for the day. Joey’s job flat-out sucks; her bosses are jerks who talk down to her, and the owners of the company give their employees little relief. In one of the best moments of the movie that highlights Joey’s empathy, the film makes a point to show her care for others.. In a cramped elevator with a pregnant coworker, she sticks up for her when their CEO makes a nasty remark about her working while heavily pregnant.
As Joey clocks in for another late shift, with her brother safely on the first floor, she begins to clean the windows. A job at first is played for laughs, cleaning bird messes that no one else wants to, but later in the film is used to Joey’s advantage. But this day is not like any other, as the Milton brothers are hosting an important gala that will soon be taken over by radical activists with their deadly intent hidden behind colorful masks. Joey, trapped outside, must use her military background to save the building filled with 300 hostages, one being the most important person in her life. Cleaner is not afraid to ramp up the stakes, not wasting a single bullet when it counts.
Where this film truly shines is with its lead Daisy Ridley, who not only has a heartfelt sincerity when admitting to her brother she wasn’t always the best sister but also an impressive physical presence. There are many action pieces in this film in which Ridley is hanging off the side of a building, yet still landing her lines with force. Plus, plentiful amounts of hand-to-hand fights are featured where she outsmarts her opponents at each turn, but not without getting banged up herself. Ridley brings an earnestness to Joey with her dedicated physical performance and empathetic nature. Often, her performance outshines the rest of the cast, leading to one-sided dialogue that would hit harder emotionally if paired better.
What took me by surprise in Cleaner was the relationship between Joey and her brother Michael, who is on the spectrum. Both siblings are talented in their own right, with her brother being a genius computer hacker who carries an emotional support object with him, resembling Thor’s mighty hammer, Mjolnir. They have a complicated relationship that is explored through their bonded history with abusive parents, with Joey’s brother Michael taking the brunt of the abuse. There’s a genuine admiration for each other as they work through their shared trauma together all while the clock races.
Cleaner takes place almost entirely at One Canada Square, Canary Wharf in London, a 50-story high-rise building. It is seen from three perspectives: those who work there, those who own it, and those who see it as corrupt. Each viewpoint is only slightly explored, leaving many questions regarding their outcomes. Once the audience enters the building with Joey, we know there is no leaving peacefully for the 300 hostages. Campbell, along with Director of Photography, Oliver Loncraine, succeeds at a feeling of claustrophobia, enabling us to feel as one of the 300. The film shows the skyline only a few times to give a true idea of the scale of the building, leading to moments where Joey is left stranded on a lift several floors up only to be lost in the lack of depth in the frame. Visually, the building does its job to a degree; but nothing that truly captures that it’s the third tallest building in the United Kingdom.
Director Martin Campbell is no stranger when it comes to action, with Casino Royale, GoldenEye, and more recently The Protégé under his belt; he no doubt knows the genre well. Cleaner benefits from strong action pieces that are amplified by the heist aspect. The fights are engaging, making choices difficult for the film’s lead to choose, as the ideal and safest outcomes seem impossible to achieve. Unfortunately, the script leaves bits to be desired, with too many ideas going on to let any of them truly flourish. There’s an interesting story in there to be told, with energy companies facing the public as clean but being corrupt, and those fed up taking a stand, but it gets shuffled into a crowded deck.
Overall, Cleaner feels like a modern gender-bent version of Die Hard that showcases how versatile Daisy Ridley is as an actor. Campbell has a strong ability to build tense action but falls short with a narrative that is only there half of the time. Here’s to hoping Cleaner isn’t the last time we see Ridley bashing in faces with a monkey wrench.
