Daisy Ridley’s ‘Cleaner’ Faces Mixed Reviews: Is It Worth Your Time?

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In the upcoming action-thriller this month, Star Wars actress Ridley transforms into a tough and earthy action hero, a far cry from her role as Princess Leia. Titled Cleaner, this film, directed by Martin Campbell (formerly of James Bond fame), has sparked intense debate with its Rotten Tomatoes rating of 50%. In the movie, Ridley plays an ex-soldier who, while working as a cleaner, gets caught up in a high-stakes hostage crisis.

While Cleaner has been met with mixed reviews, let’s first focus on the praise it has received. Nicolás Delgadillo of Discussing Film particularly commends Ridley’s performance in action scenes.

Renowned filmmaker Martin Campbell doesn’t strive for innovation but instead offers Daisy Ridley an opportunity to display her remarkable action talents. What could have turned into a monotonous skyscraper action thriller becomes anything but, thanks to Ridley and Campbell’s insight.

Maggie Lovitt from Collider echoed these thoughts, stating, “The movie ‘Cleaner,’ starring Daisy Ridley, is another example of well-performed B-movies, where the scripts fall a bit short of what one anticipates.” On the other hand, Frank Scheck from The Hollywood Reporter found that while it’s not an action masterpiece, “Cleaner” is still worth watching for fans of the genre. According to their review, Campbell has a good grasp on this type of material, creating some nerve-wracking, well-executed action scenes that make ‘Cleaner’ a decent watch for its brief duration. However, the film fails to reach the greatness of classic action movies.

‘Cleaner’ Could Be Just the Elevated Action B-Movie You’re Looking For

From a less favorable perspective, MovieWeb’s Julian Roman rated Cleaner a mere 2 out of 5. Although he appreciated the unexpected plot twists, he expressed significant concerns about the film’s coherent action sequence logic.

Daisy Ridley is suspended from a towering London skyscraper in an intense action-thriller that echoes the style of Die Hard. The film’s simple plotline includes unforeseen twists, but it falls short on the logic front, being easily outclassed by quite a distance.

In agreement with these reviews, A.A. Dowd of IGN Movies rated the film 5 out of 10, commenting that “director Martin Campbell continues his pattern of producing competent, yet ordinary action films, delivering predictable, clean hand-to-hand combat scenes that offer nothing new.” Similarly, Cole Groth of FandomWire scored it 4 out of 10, stating that “Cleaner essentially lives up to its poster’s promise – a typical action movie with a fast pace and exaggerated, ridiculous action sequences.

Under the guidance of director Martin Campbell and featuring stars like Daisy Ridley, Taz Skylar, and Clive Owen, it appears that Cleaner won’t break any new ground in the action movie genre, but rather adds another strong entry to the catalog of high-octane B-movies alongside films such as Taken and Jason Statham’s The Beekeeper. For more information about Cleaner , you can read the official synopsis provided below.

In contemporary London, a band of passionate protestors storm an energy company’s yearly gala. They capture around 300 people as hostages, intending to unmask the corruption within the attendees. However, their righteous crusade is hijacked by an extremist among them, who threatens to massacre everyone in the building to propagate his chaotic ideology globally. It’s up to a former soldier-turned-window cleaner named Ridley, precariously perched 50 stories high on the outside of the building, to rescue those inside, among whom is his younger brother.

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2025-02-19 17:02