Cleaner

Although it’s certainly a substantial improvement over some of filmmaker Renny Harlin’s more recent efforts (eg 2006’s The Covenant), Cleaner is nevertheless almost entirely lacking in elements designed to hold the viewer’s interest for more than a few minutes at a time. This is despite the participation of such stars as Samuel L. Jackson, Ed Harris, and Eva Mendes; Cleaner is ultimately just one of those movies that, though generally free of outwardly negative attributes, remains strangely uninvolving for much its running time. Jackson plays Tom Cutler, a crime-scene cleaner whose latest case proves to be far more complex than he might have anticipated – with his background as a cop eventually coming into play. Harlin admittedly does a nice job of infusing Cleaner with an appropriately understated sense of style, something that’s reflected in Jackson’s low-key performance (Harris, on the other hand, is just as intense and over-the-top as one might’ve hoped). The lack of action and suspense within the proceedings becomes increasingly problematic as the film progresses, as the viewer is never entirely given a reason to care about Tom’s plight – as screenwriter Matthew Aldrich disguises such deficiencies by piling on one complication after another. The end result is a movie that’s agreeable enough yet utterly forgettable, and its inclusion within the festival is undeniably somewhat baffling.

** out of ****