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Simply Perfect

Must See Movie...

i must have seen a different film!!

A Major Disappointment

I found this movie good but it could have been so much better with a few tweaks on the acting & flow of the film. The concept was really interesting and again, feel it could have been so much more than it ended up being. I enjoyed Samuel L. Jackson (as I always do). I found Eva Medes a little bit stiff in some sections where I would have expected a much more emotional pull at the heart strings. Ed Harris was decent - though again, I could have used more of a deeper emotional stirring. Keke Palmer was decent - though slightly hysterical/over-acting in one part that I found again was not moving like I wanted it to be. Luis Guzman was.. well.. Luis Guzman. I actually bought this movie on DVD because I really did like the concept and the basic film itself isn't terrible. I recommend it for people who can't handle the stronger thrillers but like a tiny plot twisting.

As thrillers should it kicks off at a decent pace which eventually slows once passed the inciting incident. It lacks any real intrigue however or subplots breaking up the monotony of the main arc. Samuel Jackson stars as Tom Cutler and is the most engaging aspect of the film. An ex-cop turned crime-scene cleaner who is a widower raising an only daughter. This feels contrived to elicit the audiences' sympathy as to what happens to the protagonist. To some degree it works as it pulls you through the story wondering what will happen next thus compensating for the lack of intrigue. Everyone gives credible performances adding to the polish of many scenes.

Directed by Renny Harlin, "Cleaner" is slow moving but only 84 min or so runtime crime-drama. It doesn't brake any ground story or plot-wise, but is fairly interestingly narrated and played by protagonist Samuael L Jackson. There seemed to be too much reliance on showing blood and crime scenes as a grotesque sort of mood or setting tool. That kind wears thin being overused in the movie. However there is a decent amount of character development for Harris, Jackson, and Keke Palmer (satisfactorily playing Jackson's on-screen daughter). The main problem though I had towards the end was supposedly Mendez somehow romantically involved with a Harris character almost twice her age - didn't make sense or hold water. Still the movie manages to set a foreboding mood, and makes good of the locations. Music is serviceable as well. Give it a 6/10

I've always liked both Samuel L Jackson and Ed Harris and when I saw this trailed on another DVD, I decided to get it. And I did get my money's worth. There is, however, one caveat and it has nothing to do with Jackson, Harris or any other aspect of the film as film. It is this: when we finally get to the twist, the plot is rather thin gruel, and that is especially irking given the intriguing build-up to the denouement. It could well have been the plot of made-for-TV movie, although Cleaner, of course, has higher production values.Another - slight - gripe is that in odd ways the direction promises more than it delivers. So, for example, we are given definite hints - as when the camera focuses on Jackson's character locking up once he is home - that the chap is overly paranoid about security. Yet in the event he isn't and such shots have no bearing on the film.In a way Cleaner demonstrates the dilemma faced by feature film given the recent substantial rise in quality of TV (think the daddy of them all, The Sopranos, then there's The Wire, Deadwood, Boardwalk Empire and several others). Making a substantial TV series of at least 12 episodes and, if the series if successful, several series now allows directors, writers and producers greater freedom and more time to develop plot and character and gives more room for subtlety (if that's what you like - many don't and merely want as many explosions, car chases and cheesy one-liners as 120 minutes will allow) and it is for them more satisfying. Why shoehorn everything into 90 minutes when you might well be allowed 12 full hours and can give a far more nuanced rendition of your material?So a film such as Cleaner - very well-made, well-acted, imaginatively directed and generally well-crafted - oddly loses out. It comes over, rather unfairly, as a one-trick pony. Having said all that, you won't regret spending your time watching Cleaner, but prepare yourself for a - slight - letdown at the end.