Cleaner

A very average crime film that relies on the cast and decent direction but is pulled down by the mediocre Hollywood script. A film that will evaporate from your mind by tomorrow and won't leave any traces. On the other hand, it also doesn't provoke any outrage while watching it. Overall impression: 50%. (02/01/2009)

It’s got a good subject, sealed in cellophane with a 1990s stamp, but piles on genre clichés in a perfect pyramid. However, the certainty that is S.L. Jackson and Ed Harris never fail to deliver, and Renny Harlin reminds us that even a simple B-movie can be briskly paced. He may not be the old fella who tore down Washington airport and fed human flesh to smart sharks, but to film a person cleaning up the mess after someone’s head was blown off in a way that was spectacular... damn, that guy sure put a smile on my face. (08/06/2008)

The first half of the film can be intriguing. I was surprised by the original story and plot. Then I was even more disappointed by the second half, when the writers didn't use the story properly. So towards the end I felt that the main idea got lost somewhere along the way. And that's a terrible shame. I can't say half a word about the cast. 3 stars. (07/02/2012)

The excellent subject matter and young Samuel L. Jackson alone make the film a great affair that is engaging in its own right. Another plus point is the clever, intricate story, the subsequent development of the case and the addition of other familiar faces (Ed Harris, Eva Mendes…). While Cleaner is literally excellent in the first half, it steps off the gas slightly in the second half, forgetting a bit about the main pulling motif of "murder cleaner" and staying "just" in the field of ordinary crime fiction. The result is an enjoyable, suspenseful and inoffensive thriller, one that could have had a bit more ambition, but can easily be satisfying in this form. (04/03/2021)

Renny has never exactly been a directorial ace and so his straying into the waters of B-grade crime thrillers is more than deserved. He's actually quite good under that roof. It's a shame, however, that someone crammed into an otherwise rather interesting script a stupid storyline with Jackson's daughter that really reeks of boredom and kitsch. And so did the crap about the family after a while, too. If they had worked a little more on the hopelessness of the situation, added some brutality (the film does look awfully gritty, but never shows anything that might shock even the weaker individuals), and let the mood of the main character be the same throughout the running time as it was at the beginning of the film, it could have been a very enjoyable 85 minutes. Oh, and I can't fail to mention the ending, which is adorably questionable. It's practically won by the "bad guys", but it's presented in such a way that it's actually okay -) (21/12/2010)