Martin Campbellhas been on an unusual directorial journey since directing what is largely agreed to bethe best of the modern James Bond films,Casino Royale. In the nearly 20 years since then, the New Zealand-born director has stuck to seldom-watched actioners with impressive casts likeThe ForeignerwithJackie ChanandPierce Brosnan,The ProtégéwithMaggie QandMichael Keaton,Liam NeesoninMemory, and last year he reunited withEva GreenforDirty Angels.Cleaner,starringDaisy Ridley, is the latest in the long list ofwell-acted B-movies, with scripts that don’t quite live up to expectations.
What is ‘Cleaner’ About?
Penned bySimon Uttley(Alleycats),Paul Andrew Williams(Bull,Miss You Already), andMatthewOrton(Moon Knight,Operation Finale), who are no strangers to the action genre,Cleaneruses the more extremist side of the climate change movement as the backdrop for its unfolding drama. Joey (Ridley) is a window cleaner for a large energy company located at One Canada Square in London’s financial district, Canary Wharf,who finds herself swept up in the plans of an extremist movement.
Campbell seems to be compelled by a very specific type of female lead when it comes to action films. The first few minutes ofCleanerset the scene for who Joey is as a character: she and her brother Michael (Matthew Tuck) had a rough childhood, and now as an adult, Joey finds herself as the caretaker for her older brother, who has been kicked out of yet another care home for autistic adults. Joey is forced to bring her brother along with her to work on what is, quite possibly,theworstday to bring her brother to work with her.
‘Cleaner’s Crisis Is Bigger Than the Climate
Toward the end ofCleaner’s first act, it is revealed that the activist group Earth Revolution is planning to take over Agnian Energy’s gala. At first, it seems as though Marcus Blake (Clive Owen) and the organization are only planningto use fear and intimidation to get the company’s highest-ranking members to admit to their climate crimes, but things quickly turn deadly when Noah (Taz Skylar) seizes control of the operation to fuel his far more radical goals. As Joey dangles on her pulley platform outside of the building, bearing witness to Noah’s unscrupulous tactics, she becomes an unwitting pawn in the attack and an invaluable asset to the police force racing against the clock to stop the activists from blowing up the building and all three hundred hostages.
Skylar gives a real dynamite performance inCleaner, hot on the heels of his stand-out performance as Sanji in Netflix’s critically acclaimed live-action adaptation ofOne Piece. He brilliantly toes the line between Noah’s cool and calculated demeanor, which masks the desperate madness driving his actions. He is an unrepentant villain in the film, butSkylar leaves room for audiences to question what drove him to the breaking pointwhere radical activism was his only remaining option.
“I Was Crying So Much”: Daisy Ridley Reveals the ‘Cleaner’ Scene That Made Her Break Down
Daisy Ridley stars as a highly trained ex-soldier whose job as a window cleaner gives her a front-row seat to a deadly hostage situation.
While it’s clear that those involved with the film do not think climate change is agoodthing,Cleaner’s stance on climate change — and climate change activists — is murky, at best. To understand the glib remarks made throughout the film about climate change activists, one has to understand thatCleanerhas been in development for at least as long as the British environmental activist group, Just Stop Oil. Ridley was attached to star inCleanera year after the groupmade headlineswhen activists glued themselves to the frame of an iconicVincent Van Goghpainting. Just three months after the film began shooting, the UK government made the much-criticized decision to refer Just Stop Oil to thegovernment’s Prevent schemeas a terrorist organization.
It seems thatCleaneris as much a reaction to the planet’s rising temperatures as it is a response to the rising tensions between activists and the UK government and citizens. While the scriptclearly condemns Noah for his radical views, it doesn’t necessarily offer a “good” foil to his viewpoints for uninformed audiencesto walk away rooting for climate change activists. Either way, radical and mainstream ideologies seem to be put down here. The commentary is further muddied by the “good cop” Superintendent Claire Hume (smartly played byRuth Gemmell) who allies herself with Joey throughout the crisis, whose own feelings about the climate change movement are as convoluted as the film’s.
Joey and Michael Are the Glue That Holds ‘Cleaner’ Together
At the center of the chaos is the very thing that motivates Joey to save the day: her brother Michael. Joey is faced with a scenario that many thirty-something-year-olds are starting to encounter as their parents grow older and exit their lives, andCleanerapproaches her evolving relationship with Michael with a lot of respect and nuance. Joey carries a lot of baggage, both from their troubled childhood and from her stint in the military that led to her being dishonorably discharged. And she also carries the guilt of not being a good enough sister to her brother over the years. While Michael is very much a secondary character in the film,his presence is felt throughout as Joey fights to ensure they both survive the night.
Cleanermostly avoids falling victim to the tendency in the media to turnneurodivergence into a “superpower.”Michael does have his special interests, which ultimately prove useful in assisting Joey in stopping Noah’s schemes and securing a satisfying conclusion to the film, but it’s more so arrived at through Joey and Michael finding common ground and understanding with each other. It’s evident that a lot of love and thought went into not only the performances of these two characters but the writing and direction too.When all else fails, Joey and Michael are the glue that holdsCleanertogether.
Once again, Daisy Ridley proves she has the charm and star power to make even the shakiest scripts a thoroughly enjoyable watch. LikeProtégé,Cleanerhas a lot of compelling storylines, action sequences, and intention, but the execution leaves something to be desired.
Daisy Ridley packs a punch in this status quo B-movie.
