Cleaner

Cleaner_360P

This is a fun, relatively forgettable little flick. I saw a documentary on real life cleaners of this sort, and that is a nasty business. Samuel L Jackson does a good job, like he normally does. Cleaner is entertaining, and I think it does a pretty decent job sucking you into the story. Eva Mendes walks around looking like some computer animated hottie (that's just how she looks!) and also gets the job done. OK, let me address the elephant in the living room, here.. How did Renny Harlin go from something easily watchable and entertaining like this, to The Legend of Hercules? I just don't get that. Moving on. Cleaner won't keep you up at night, it probably won't be your all time favorite, but you are entertained while it lasts. Watching Jackson clean and talk about cleaning is pretty fun.

this thriller is way superior to many other recent ones. i would not say "one of the best" because its entertainment aspects are not as high as the artistic ones at face value , or vice versa depending on anyone's moods or interests; after reading the previous reviews i was expecting some dumb plot@co...but no; beside the great acting all around, i found the plot to be quiet genuine for this genre, with a quiet REALIST twist and END ; as who actually "wins" or/and "looses". i can not find anything that is obvious, questions such as "it does not make sense?!", etc, as COMPARED with MANY another similar thrillers.this feature does not have "expected" "punch lines" but then again Samuel L. Jackson is a "punch" in himself))). basically this is an INVESTIGATIVE crime-thriller. it goes great at making the viewer asking "who", "why", "by whom", and so on, in a quiet "classic" way. however the viewer must keep track of story line as much as the visual. the one remarkable way i found this feature quiet original is its takes on the "twists"; the end is unorthodox for the moral and ethical person, and i can only presume this is the reason why the production-plot is-are considered "poor". myself i do agree that those moral and ethical values should be uphold in movies that CONSIDER/UPHOLD/PROMOTE themselves as TEACHING/DOCUMENTARIES.... but for a THRILER i am more then satisfied with the outcome here, that makes perfect sense and has a quiet high dose of reality towards anyone that might have heard/was involved in anything remotely close to this (movie's plot). the movie MISSES action scenes(i do not think there is anything BUT a single shooting and a thrown punch), but the actors and viewers thoughts will likely keep you interested if you want to get to the "bottom of this". i was not really impressed by anyone particularly, everyone was just as good as I EXPECTED from them = great. i can recommend this to anyone looking for or into better then average thrillers. for an investigative viewer this might be right up the alley REGARDLESS of how ANYONE thinks of "how" this movie "should" end...being a critic does not necessary make everyone a screenwriter or a producer, hehehe. however if you looking for butt-kicking or anything "scarry"(altrough there are a couple of frightful scenes but as in raising your interests not your "fear") this is NOT for you.

Tom Carver (Samuel L. Jackson) is a former police detective, who turned crime scene cleaner. Which he cleans up the mess of people who committed suicide, accidental deaths or murder. After police are done investigate the crime. When Tom does his next clean-up of someone was murder in a high profile mansion. Then he later finds out that he was unwillingly set-up for a cover up. Which his supposedly last client Ann Norcut (Eva Mendes) is starting to ask questions why Tom was in her house, when no one was home. While his former partner (Ed Harris) tries to help Tom with the problem he's facing and while Tom's daughter Rose (Keke Palmer) is trying to ask her father, why her mother was murder awhile back. While the father and daughter relationship proves to be increasingly difficult, since Tom is never quite there for her. Directed by Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2:Die Harder, The Covenant, Mindhunters) made an stylish, interesting, sometimes very fascinating film. Harlin's latest film certain matured a lot, after making Hollywood movies they were always Hits or Misses. The visual style of the picture are the highlight. Scott Kaven's (Cabin Fever, the upcoming Paul W.S. Anderson's Death Race) cinematography are also good. The actors in the film gives good performances. The relationship between the father and daughter are one of the best parts in the picture. While the premise of first-time screenwriter Matthew Aldrich is somewhat original but his script could have been more complex. DVD has an sharp anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) transfer and an strong Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. DVD includes an interesting audio commentary by the director, deleted scenes and a digital copy of the movie. This might have came straight to DVD in North America but it came out in Overseas in several European countries. Jackson, who's terrific as usual also worked with director Harlin in the underrated "The Long Kiss Goodnight" and the wildly entertaining "Deep Blue Sea". Which Jackson is also one of the producers of this feature. Luis Gusman appears in a small supporting role is always a hoot in any features he has appeared in. Robert Forster appears in a cameo as well. Fans of film noir will be modestly entertained by the movie. Certainly worth a look. Super 35. (*** ½/*****).

Request you to not watch this movie... It starts with a promise and as it goes on you crave for the movie to end... Predictable,not entertaining at all,wasted movie... Save your time and watch better thrillers.... The synopsis sounds good and that is why I watched the movie... But it was way too predictable with nothing to give you a start... No great suspense.. no great direction... nothing phenomenal with the acting... shy away from this... low rating... Nothing to write about this movie so I am filling up the remaining lines of text so you can imagine how much a time waster this movie is...really irritated at how good a premise that was and how bad a screenplay was written out of it...

Matthew Aldrich. This is a name worthy of remembrance. This is the individual that took fingers to keyboard and came up with one of the worst scripts of all time. Cliché. Predictable. An insult to the public's intelligence. Is he the sole beneficiary of blame? Of course not. Renny Harlin took this abysmal excuse for a script and made it into a movie. Sam Jackson and Ed Harris actually read it (or not) and chose to star in it. Culpability abounds. This is the Denise Richards of film scripts. There aren't enough Razzies in the universe to give proper recognition to how truly horrible this writing really is. In all fairness, Samuel Jackson's profession is incredibly novel and the manner in which it's presented is highly creative, but, at the end of the day, it's all just trimmings. Pretty trimmings. Package it any way you want- garbage writing is still garbage writing.

Tom Cutler (Jackson) is a retired policeman who now works as a crime scene Cleaner-upper. In his latest job, he cleans a new crime scene and destroys evidence and isn't aware the crime hasn't been officially reported. Uh oh, this can't be good. You hear about Cleaners all the time, but usually when a mob or gangland hit is involved when bodies etc need to be removed and the area cleaned up. This one is different in that Tom Cutler works with the Police to clean up after the police have done their investigation of a crime scene. Hey, someone has to do it. You know the Police won't. The movie makes that quite clear and it is up to the family to get the area cleaned up. This is almost a good thriller, but a side plot involving Tom's daughter (Palmer) makes this story somewhat awkward. I guess they had to fill in some time. Oh, they brought this side plot around to connect with the another side plot, but it was still a reach and awkward. See? This was almost a good thriller because there was a noticeable lack of tension, suspense and the pace was somewhat draggy. The music didn't help either as I noticed the music was more appropriate for watching people take a long journey. You know, journey music. Get it? HA! The acting by all was excellent in this almost a good thriller. Violence: Yes, Sex: No, Nudity: No, Language: No

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.

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.

Just checked Renny Harlin's data in IMDb and this movie (which completely departs in quality and style from his previous work) is NOT mentioned, can anyone correct this please? About the movie itself, great detail in photography, many small takes that help make it much more enjoyable, good music, Jackson and Harris great performers as always, although Mendez is not as convincing in her role, maybe it's that I have never perceived her as a very good actress, but if the intention was to pass her as a subtle femme fatale then I guess she's worth checking out. The girl playing Tom's daughter does not feel completely convincing as a troubled young woman, maybe this is more the director's fault than a lack of talent from the actress' part. Mr. Guzman's parts are very intense, this guy almost always steals the scene in which he appears, we have seen him grow steadily in each movie and he really delivers.