Rating: R | Runtime: 97 minutes
Release Date: February 21st, 2025 (USA)
Studio: Sky Cinema / Quiver Distribution
Director(s): Martin Campbell
Writer(s): Simon Uttley, Paul Andrew Williams & Matthew Orton

What would Piers Morgan do?

If everything that activists across the world do won’t make a dent (and, in some cases, gets hijacked in the public consciousness like when the media colors people throwing red paint on glass-protected artwork as domestic terrorists), logic would presume that someone will inevitably fill the void by escalating those actions into an explosion nobody can ignore.

That’s the gist of Martin Campbell’s latest actioner Cleaner. The script by Simon Uttley, Paul Andrew Williams, and Matthew Orton starts like a Die Hard retread insofar as positioning an every-woman (Daisy Ridley’s military-trained washout Joey Locke) to take down a group of terrorists bottled within a skyscraper before throwing in a twist by presenting the justifiable case that said terrorists (led by Clive Owen) are actually eco-activists seeking accountability. Then the original conceit is quickly put back on track via the introduction of an actual psychopath who infiltrated the ranks of those determined idealists.

The idea is that we’re supposed to nod our heads at the message this hostage situation is built upon while also abhorring the lengths taken to expose it. Yes, the Milton Brothers (Rufus Jones and Lee Boardman) are evil, but can we really allow vigilantes the power to become judge, jury, and executioner? Since the answer is almost always a resounding “No.”—something society might need to rethink considering the current American regime is proving the system was never actually fortified in a way to benefit lives over profits—you also cannot let Joey fulfill those three roles when confronting the vigilantes.

So, it’s a tightrope walk of having your cake and eating it too. The one-percenters get called out by glorifying someone a majority of people would call a terrorist if a full-blown, devoid of redemption, actual terrorist didn’t provide a contrast to exonerate him. Joey gets to run wild killing people because the real villains already killed the “fake” villains, so she only has murderers to take down rather than “radicalized heroes.” And, just in case, Joey’s autistic hacker brother (Matthew Tuck’s Michael) guarantees we can tell the difference since his neurodivergent hard line of championing people who speak truth to power (he loves the Avengers and holds Mjolnir close) means anyone he willingly attacks must be a tyrannical despot.

Michael proves a convenient and borderline exploitative pawn to a puzzle that’s desperately trying to grasp hold of meaning beyond its otherwise popcorn-fueled foundation. It’s not enough to derail the thrills (Campbell has made a successful career within the genre), but it is enough to stop Cleaner from being more than a rainy-day rental of escapism. Because of this, that relevant message trampled on by Hollywood tropes and but-you-should-still-die-before-going-too-far rhetoric gets rendered moot. The filmmakers might as well have just delivered their Die Hard retread without jumping through hoops they so readily erase whenever finding themselves flirting with taking an actual stand.

Ridley is good, though. She has the physical chops to shoulder the action set-pieces, but also the emotional depth to find the dimensions necessary to care about her motivations and end game. Taz Skylar’s Noah and Ruth Gemmell’s Superintendent Claire Hume are the other major players on either side of Joey and they do well to take control of their respective troops and demand results. The rest of the cast is expendable to provide comic relief, manipulate drama, and supply fresh bodies when the script needs them. Despite the narrative’s desire to always play both sides, though, it is mostly enjoyable. I’m just not sure it’s enjoyable enough to hide its hollowness.

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Daisy Ridley as “Joey” in the action film CLEANER, courtesy of Quiver Distribution release.