Cleaner (2025)

Cleaner is a 2025 British action thriller film directed by Martin Campbell, written by Simon Uttley, Paul Andrew Williams, and Matthew Orton, and starring Daisy Ridley, Taz Skylar and Clive Owen. The film was released in theatres on 21 February 2025.

When activists take over an energy company’s annual gala held at One Canada Square, Canary Wharf in London, some more radical members of their group take hostages and threaten to blow up the building if police intervene. A dishonorably discharged but highly trained ex-soldier, who works as the building's window cleaner, attempts to save the hostages when she learns one of them is her older brother.

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This film provides examples of:

• Acoustic License: Numerous conversations throughout the film take place on the other side of really thick glass. Especially prominent when Joey overhears the conversation when the terrorists first take over the building.
• Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: Several scenes, such as Joey's phone call with Claire talking about their past or Joey's conversation with Michael outside the service elevator.
• Action Girl: Joey is obviously one, but the terrorist gang is also surprisingly egalitarian, with probably a third of them being female.
• Advertised Extra: You couldn't tell from the trailer that Marcus played by Clive Owen would only be in the movie for about 20 minutes.
• Agony of the Feet: Notably averted for a Die Hard-inspired movie where the protagonist breaking a glass window without cutting their feet open is a large plot point and major obstacle.
• Artistic License – Biology: The one-size fit all antidote to the sedative that is used at the beginning of the movie doesn't really match any real life analogue.
• Artistic Licence – Gun Safety: Somewhat averted. Joey, being an ex-army operator, checks the magazine of Marcus' gun when picking it up. However, she doesn't check the chamber and she keeps pointing it at her brother even after initially being startled by him.
• Artistic Licence Law Enforcement: A hostage situation in London proper involving plastic explosives and automatic weapons would probably summon a police response with hundreds of police officers and several choppers.
• Artistic Licence – Physics: It is stated at one point that even one of the vests going off would be enough to take out the building, which seems rather unlikely.
• Asshole Victim: It's hard to feel sorry for the corporate people who get the bomb vests strapped to them.
• Audible Sharpness: The audio mixing makes it sounds like the bottle the CEO brother was stabbed with was actually a knife.
• Ax-Crazy: Marcus is portrayed as reasonable and unwilling to kill so that Noah comes off more as a crazy villainous man, even though Joey should really sympathize more with the working class anti-corporate terrorists.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Noah doesn't get the mass murder he wants, but the energy corporation does face consequences as a result of the leak of their information.
• Bald of Evil: Noah wants to kill all humans. He's also bald.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted. By the end of the film Joey's face is caked in blood.
• Bloodless Carnage: Given the violent way that Milton is killed, there should be blood everywhere.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: Given that Noah knows Joey can't shoot him without risking triggering the bomb, why does he throw his gun away?
• Bottomless Magazines: Weirdly averted. Marcus's gun never fires, yet when Joey fires it into the street, it has maybe half the bullets that it should.
• Brick Joke: Joey motivates her brother Michael by referencing Avengers: Endgame, except she summarizes the plot wrong. At the end of the movie, her brother tells her that he was bothered by the fact that she summarized the plot wrong and explains in great detail why she is wrong.
• Camera Abuse: When Joey attacks the thug with the fire ax, the blow is shown from the perspective of the thug.
• Chekhov's Skill: The opening shows that Joey is a great climber and not afraid of heights, an important factor in the movie.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Perhaps to justify why the gang is so small, half the gang is killed during Noah's coup.
• Coitus Uninterruptus: The gas canister to Milton and his sex partner, resulting in Milton being caught with his pants down.
• Collateral Damage: The terrorist associates who are unwilling to go with Noah are killed and their deaths are considered this.
• Combat Pragmatist: Joey finds herself without a firearm in many situations, requiring her to improvise, including the use of a fireaxe.
• Conspicuous Consumption: The party where the events happened seems rather extravagant.
• Contrived Coincidence: Michael is kicked out of the program the same exact day that the Miltons plan their gala.
• Corporate Conspiracy: One of the major driving forces of the plot is that the corporation hired a contract killing for an activist that Marcus was close to.
• Corrupt Bureaucrat: One of the party VIPs admits to taking bribes to look the other way.
• Covers Always Lie: Joey never points a gun up while dramatically falling down the skyscraper.
• The Cracker: Zee and Michael are both very capable around computers.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Milton getting killed by a bottle being shoved down his throat is certainly unique.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Joey's abusive father is the reason she ends up quitting the army.
• The Dragon: Noah's unnamed female henchmen, who puts up a good fight with Joey.
• Empathy Doll Shot: Joey's family photo of her and Michael is shown in the opening and later at her locker.
• Establishing Character Moment: For Marcus, when Noah brings Milton in his underwear, Marcus angrily demands that Noah put Milton's pants back on and treat him with dignity.
• Everything Is Online: Sure is convenient that all of the company information is accessible from the control room meant for the building.
• Evil Plan: Noah's plan is to kill possibly hundreds to bring attention to the energy corporation's crimes.
• Flipping the Bird: Multiple times by Joey, especially in the finale.
• Friendly Address Privileges: When verbally sparring with Noah, Claire asks if he wants to be addressed as Noah or Jonah to show that she knows who he is.
• Harmful to Minors: Two kids are shown in the building and are affected by the gas.
• Hollywood Tactics: The SWAT team's first attempt to enter with only 5 guys, no ground or air support, and then retreating by cutting through the street are very unrealistic.
• Hostage Situation: The central conflict of the movie. Surprisingly, despite the box blurb, Joey's brother is never taken hostage.
• Idiot Ball: One henchman has his MP5k jam, instead of trying to clear the weapon he pursues Joey without alerting any of his fellow henchmen.
• I Have Your Wife: Noah tries to pull this on Joey by kidnapping Michael, but he never succeeds and doesn't seem to put a lot of effort into it.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: When Joey shoots into the streets, the movie presents the idea that she is near-missing intentionally, which seems absurd given that the weapon is a handgun and she is firing at least a hundred meters into the distance.
• Informed Flaw: Michael is noted to be autistic to the point where he qualifies for a government grant to be put in a home despite being ostensibly adult age, but other than losing his temper often, he is not shown to otherwise be suffering from autism. The most his mental disorder is shown is that he has issues making eye contact with people when speaking with them, which is typical for people with autism.
• Instant Death Bullet: Every person who is shot instantly dies except for Marcus.
• Jitter Cam: When Joey saves Zee in the stairwell, the shot is filmed as a dutch angle.
• Meaningful Name: A character named Noah intends to kill all of humanity... bonus points for the fact that it is made explicit that this was a name he chose.
• Neck Snap: Appears to be what Joey does to a henchman, it looks like she did a sleeper hold but the henchman later confirms there is no pulse, meaning she may have cracked his neck.
• No One Could Survive That!: Noah is smart enough to realize that Joey is probably not dead after they slowly lower a bomb on a rope to her.
• Offscreen Karma: The results of Joey and her brother publishing all the data is presented as voice over with an establishing shot of London.
• Parental Neglect: Joey and Michael's parents seem to be completely uninvolved in their lives.
• Parental Substitute: Joey is this for her brother, it's not explained what happened to their biological parents.
• Police Are Useless: Somewhat averted, while the police don't resolve the plot their intervention ultimately is key to Joey's success.
• Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Joey's recollection of Avengers: Endgame, much to her bother's frustration.
• Posthumous Character: The activist killed by the corporation in prison is a major motivation for the characters.
• Precision F-Strike: Joey says it many times in the film, but special attention is given to when Michael curses.
• Ripped from the Headlines: The contract killing that inspired Marcus is an unsubtle reference to the actions of companies like Coca-Cola and Nestle in South America.
• Shout-Out: Many to the original Die Hard, but especially notable when the bad guy falls out of the building at the end and a watch is involved.
• Soft Glass: Even after being weakened, the building glass broke like safety glass as opposed to how it would have actually broken.
• Throw-Away Guns: Joey has trouble retaining firearms after using them.
• Underestimating Badassery: Notably averted for a Die Hard style film, Noah from the beginning of the film treats Joey as a legitimate threat, likely because he is aware of her background.
• Viewer-Friendly Interface: For those who can't keep up with the progress bar when Michael is hacking the computer, the computer also flashes many graphics making it clear that the file has been encrypted.
• Villain Has a Point: Noah does have a point that Marcus has been fairly unsuccessful so far, although one wonders if the plan had gone according to how Marcus meant to do it the same result would have occurred.
• Villainous Rescue: Noah has this when he finds out that Joey is not dead and has broken into the building.
• We Need a Distraction: The in-universe reason for why Claire allows Joey to run around even though she is not a member of law enforcement.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: The movie makes a point of showing that Joey prevented Zee from being executed, but never shows her fate.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: While conversing with Noah on the other side of the window and pointing a gun at him, it is unclear why she doesn't just shoot him and resolve the situation. Given the thickness of the window, it would be unsurprising if handgun bullets would not have been sufficient to penetrate.

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"PRICK!!"