lej_privat The whole story in the movie just doesn't add up. Really not a good movie. Sad to see Samuel in such a movie.

Tss5078 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.

patrick powell 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.

paul2001sw-1 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.