Cleaner

Directed by Martin Campbell, Cleaner follows a window cleaner (Daisy Ridley’s Joey) as she springs into action after several executives are taken hostage by a group of environmental terrorists (led by Clive Owen’s Marcus Blake). Filmmaker Campbell, armed with a script by Simon Uttley, Paul Andrew Williams, and Matthew Orton, delivers a low-rent and perpetually erratic endeavor that rarely, if ever, exploits its seemingly foolproof premise to compelling effect, as the movie progresses through a sluggishly-paced narrative that contains little in the way of compelling, electrifying sequences – with the arms-length atmosphere compounded by Eigil Hensen’s egregiously flat visuals and a recurring emphasis on head-scratching plot elements (eg Joey’s refusal to shoot the villain when she has the chance). And while the picture admittedly contains a very small handful of engaging episodes, with this particularly true of Marcus’ initial speech detailing his motives, Cleaner, which ludicrously keeps Ridley’s figure outside the building until the final 20 minutes or so, ultimately comes off as a disappointing misfire that squanders an appealing setup and Ridley’s personable performance.

** out of ****