Cleaner (2007)

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

A different way of telling a story

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Renny Harlin is a director whose talent seems to have diminished with every film he's made in the last twenty years. He first came to my attention with DIE HARD 2, one of my favourite movies all time, and then delivered a couple more entertaining movies during the 1990s (namely, the ones without Geena Davis: CLIFFHANGER and DEEP BLUE SEA). Since then, his once solid talent seems to be floundering: he made what might be Stallone's worst ever movie, DRIVEN, and then one of the worst films I've seen in a good while: 2006's THE COVENANT. CLEANER is his next film after that, and the good news is that it's better than its predecessor, but still a disappointing outing.The problem is that, despite a fine cast, this film looks and feels like a TV movie. The scripting is the worst thing about it, a sub-standard effort heavily derived from the likes of CSI. Although it's meant to be a thriller, this is a film utterly devoid of thrills; only the strength of the acting kept me watching. There's one good twist at the outset and then everything plays out in a conventional, seen-it-all-before way. The worst thing is the villain reveal, which is so completely expected it's actually wince-inducing, along with the whole reason for that person being the villain as well.Samuel L Jackson is a fine actor who seems to be mired in sub-standard material lately (SNAKES ON A PLANE anyone?). He gives a typically fine performance here, but his considerable talents are wasted. The same goes for Ed Harris, saddled with a nothing role. I was delighted to see Luis Guzman pop up in a larger role than he's usually given, and he's great too, although again wasted. Robert Forster delivers a cameo but the female lead is given to the horrendous Eva Mendes who never convinces for a second. This cold actress never ignites the screen and she's very poor here – although not quite as bad as she is in GHOST RIDER.Aside from the grisly death clean-up scenes (some of which left me feeling distinctly sickened) there's absolutely nothing to remember about this film – it's just another run-of-the-mill outing and nothing to get excited about.

Cleaner was a great film that would have gotten a much higher rating, if not for predictability. There are certain actors, when you see their names in the credits, you know, even before the film starts, that they are the bad guy, and that's exactly what happened here. Samuel L. Jackson stars as a former police officer, who was part of a dirty department. He knew that it would only be a matter of time before he was caught up in the corruption, so he decides to get out. Jackson decides to take on the unique, but very real profession of being a crime scene cleaner. One day, he's given a key and a job to do in an upscale neighborhood. Nothing is out of the ordinary, until the next day when he goes to get paid and discovers that the woman there has no idea what he's talking about. Now Jackson must discover who used him to cover up their crime, who was the victim, and why were they murdered? While I prefer Samuel L. Jackson in a more comedic role, he's just as good in a dramatic one. His strength has always been the ability to carry a film, no matter if it's dramatic or ridiculous. Despite being direct-to-video, Cleaner has a large supporting cast of stars that really help the film. A lot of these films tend to have newcomers backing the veteran star, and their weak performances bring down the quality of even the best written films. Here, Jackson is supported by the likes of Eva Mendes, Luis Guzman, and Ed Harris, all of whom are very believable, and all of whom help move the story along. Cleaner is intense, unique, and interesting, if you haven't seen a lot of film, you may not realize who the bad guy is, five minutes into the film, and you may be really surprised. As for me, it was like watching a movie that some amateur Netflix reviewer already ruined for me, and the suburb ending was lost.

The premise of 'Cleaner' is quite clever; a professional cleaner cleans up a crime scene, only to discover that, in spite of original appearances, the police had not recorded the crime at all. Unfortunately, as he tries to find out who has put him up to this, the film descends into regulation cliché. It's not an awful film, but it is the sort of movie in which, shortly after each character appears, you can reliably predict what their ultimate role in the plot will be; and where none of the various twists comes as a real surprise. Everything is improbably connected; there's a beautiful woman (although surprisingly no sex); it all comes down to a personal showdown at the end. It's watchable; but scarcely interesting.

Saturday, January 16, 2010 The Cleaner (2007)What a movie to begin blogging on! This movie had it all - gore, Samuel L. Jackson,mystery, guts, dark but hilarious humour. I loved it. Twists and turns that had insight into characters, as the plot unravels with misdirections and smelly fish. The plot has just enough 'predictable bad-guy' balanced with 'he feels like a bad guy, but he'll probably be one of those bad-guys guys who turns out to be a good guy at the end'. With friends, you are guaranteed to be kept guessing and joking and arguing throughout the movie , or afterward if you can bring yourself to interrupt the special silent moments of the film that are dialogue-free and thought provoking moments into the humanity of murder. The mechanics of the murder mystery are sound, using plausible plot devices, realistic police investigatory processes, and genuine-feeling character motivations.One special addition to mention the astounding talents of actress, Keke Palmer, whose genuine emotive quality and deeply-thought characterisation made this movie even more mesmerizing than it already was. See me at: http://www.blogger.com/profile/09375370735809683206