Cleaner (2025) is kind of dumb. Which, in and of itself, isn’t the problem. There are plenty of great “dumb” films that prioritize broad humor and easy jokes. But, in a twist of irony, the script and, more importantly, its screenwriter must be smart to make the dumb parts land. And this is where the latest actioner starring Daisy Ridley fumbles. Because it thinks it’s clever. Worse still, it believes the story that works as the through line has something at all critical to say about the general bleeding sore our world currently is.

Essentially, the perfect ‘dumb’ movie (everything from Shaolin Soccer to Hot Rod) requires finesse. Cleaner, directed by once revered director Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, The Mask of Zorro), is clumsy and cringe-inducing in its sincerity. I didn’t hate it, and the film has its remote charms, but on the whole, it’s an afterthought of a film that loves its law enforcement pandering.

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Daisy Ridley stars as Joey Locke, a former soldier who now works as a window cleaner for a major environmentalist company due to an unceremonious and abrupt end to her military career. However, that activist edge is only a front. The company in question is deeply corrupt, causing harm on a global level and inspiring a group of radical activists to take 300 hostages at the energy company’s annual gala.

Clive Owen stars as the activist party leader with Taz Skylar (One Piece) as his strike first ask questions later right-hand-man, Noah. How the story unfolds once the activists appear allows for a few notable twists and turns. However, the distinctions the writing makes between the activists are even more notable. There’s the good (though still dispensable) and the bad. The good only wants to share the world’s wrongdoings through force and intimidation. The bad, like Noah, seek the thrill of killing humanity for what it’s wrought upon the earth.

The film can’t decide what point it’s trying to make. 

Once Cleaner introduces the term ‘anti-humanist’ environmental terrorist into the fray, there’s a decent understanding of the film’s point of view. Yes, it believes that the world needs saving — if it’s possible at this point. But the film churns with an apparent belief in bipartisan efforts. The law and activists and/or ordinary people fighting for a cause can and should work together through peaceful conversations. This is not a radical film but a perfunctory one that uses real-life issues as window dressing when the real fun comes in the action sequences.

It’s where Joey ultimately comes in. Dealing with her baggage due to not being able to support her brother when she was younger who was often subjected to their father’s cruelty, she sees the attack on the building as a chance to absolve herself of her guilt. She’ll fight the group with the help of a local detective speaking to her from the ground as Joey infiltrates the building to save the hostages and stop them from blowing up the highrise. Her brother is another victim of the wrong place and time, stuck in the building waiting for her.

The film is a mess. The best moments of Cleaner arrive when either Skylar gets the spotlight, or the film remembers its key draw — its action. When the film thinks it’s dispelling some hidden truths or speaking to the power of collaboration, it falls flat. We understand the inherent rage of the activists even if we don’t believe in the lengths they’re willing to go to ensure their message is heard. The writing in the film muddies the narrative to the point where there doesn’t seem to be a final point.

Ridley is wildly miscast in any sequence that doesn’t involve action. Points for her physicality and capable fight sequences in which she’s bruising. But she fails to maintain an emotional chord. She isn’t helped by a script that lays her troubles on thick while asking her to play things broad to the point of caricature. In the first few scenes, she and her brother are edified with a feverish swiftness, seeking laughter but earning frustrated groans instead. It’s an oddly slapstick intro for a character whose backstory is riddled with trauma and pain.

The action is the key star of Cleaner (2025).

Ridley has delivered strong performances in the past, but Cleaner is a poor marriage of her talents. Owen, meanwhile, is shockingly underutilized, barely making an impression. Skylar is the only actor who stands on his own, and even he falls victim to overwriting. He’s effective in scenes that call for naturalism and imposing physicality. His charisma is evident; there’s just room for refinement.

But the real star of Cleaner is its action. Shot in close quarters with MMA-style fight choreography that’s just as focused on blocking as it is attacking, the combative moments soar. It shouldn’t be surprising for a director who directed the opening, parkour-inspired Casino Royale, and yet, after an hour of sitting and waiting, by the time the action kicks in, it’s well worth the weight.

The film is riddled with an abundance of minor yet notable flaws. The direction and, more importantly, the cinematography are too glossy and have no texture despite the rough-and-tumble aesthetic of its lead. There’s no grit to suggest a real world, even as Joey dangles in midair. Great action films have a sense of style that imbues them with distinctive personalities. Cleaner has the soul of a sentient screensaver.

In fear of leaning into the ‘but actually,’ detail nit-picking style of critique — a blight on film criticism — there are also continuity, common sense errors that beg us to lose focus. After one body falls from the top of a high-rise and an armored police van is blown up, you’d think the surrounding streets would be cleared. And yet, two more bodies fall, and bullets take aim at the street, and while the victims meet their end, we still see bicyclists peddling by on the ground below. It’s frustratingly nonsensical.

Cleaner (2025) believes it has something important to say, and that’s its downfall. If it had simply leaned into the silliness and offered more time to perfect the action, it would be a worthwhile action flick. Instead, it’s hollow and meandering, with only one good performance and some well-shot fight choreography.

Cleaner (2025) arrives in theaters on February 21, 2025.

Cleaner (2025)

• 5/10 Rating - 5/10

5/10

TL;DR

Cleaner (2025) believes it has something important to say, and that’s its downfall. If it had simply leaned into the silliness and offered more time to perfect the action, it would be a worthwhile action flick.

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