-Written by Kyle Bain.
When a group of terrorists take over an office building, former soldier Joey (Daisy Ridley), now a window Cleaner, is forced to take action. As tensions continue to rise, Joey finds herself and her brother in harm’s way, forced to fight her way out and outsmart the militant men and women who are prepared to kill anyone who stands in their way.
I look at filmmaking like a giant puzzle, a series of pieces that need to fit together in order to create a whole, effective piece of art. Cleaner is missing pieces that hinder it nearly every step of the way.
Ridley has almost been absent from Hollywood since her stint with the Star Wars franchise, and I found myself wondering, as rumors that her chances of returning to the franchise were becoming less and less likely, if Ridley would ever again get a shot. I don’t find her to be overly compelling as an actor, as she appears to lack the tools necessary to develop a truly likeable, layered character. Her time here as Joey is no different. Her tone is steeped in hyperbole, her ability to evoke emotion is nonexistent, and she seems to lack chemistry with any of the other actors. To a degree some of the blame should be placed on those in charge of developing this film, giving her very little to work with–but she possesses the same flaws here as she did in her previous times on screen. Cleaner relies heavily on connecting with this character, and Ridley just isn’t the person to take a lackadaisical character and script and turn them into something enjoyable.
Cleaner is meant to be a high-anxiety thriller that provides viewers with something of a visceral experience from start to finish, however, the lack of character development leaves a lot to be desired in this regard. Again and again the film failed to appeal to me, as the characters presented to me felt one dimensional, predictable, and altogether unenjoyable. There’s hardly any exposition, hardly any time for Ridley’s Joey to develop, and by the time the tone of Cleaner begins to shift, what Director Martin Campbell and his writing team had hoped to develop is lost.
Cleaner is a terribly flawed film that leaves gaping holes in the character development, leaving much to be desired. However, the final twenty minutes or so are quite action packed–making for an enjoyable conclusion to the film. The issue remains that there’s simply no depth. It’s a narrative that hopes to become multidimensional, to develop characters and their histories in a way that appeals to emotion and more–but there’s just not enough here to warrant a response like that. Cleaner ultimately remains shallow, flawed in more ways than one–struggling to keep viewers focused for its entire runtime.
Directed by Martin Campbell.
Written by Matthew Orton, Simon Uttley, & Paul Andrew Williams.
Starring Daisy Ridley, Taz Skyler, Clive Owen, Matthew Tuck, etc.
5/10 = WORTH WATCHING, BUT YOU’VE BEEN WARNED
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