2008-07-21

Cleaner

Release year: 2007
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Eva Mendes, Ed Harris, Keke Palmer, and Luis Guzman
Directed by: Renny Harlin
Written by: Matthew Aldrich
RT: 20% (10 votes), IMDB: 6.1 (4,869 votes)

This movie was trying to be a mystery flick, but failed to do so. I could guess the answer after the first third of the movie. It was simply about good cop, bad cop, good cop gone bad for a wrong reason (a silly an unnecessary one, actually), and a father – daughter relationship.



The cast were not bad actually, but their performance were not stellar either. I guess the weakness was rather in the storyline. How predictable it was and weak logic surrounding it were two things that made the entire movie looked weak.

Tom Cutler’s fingerprint ought to be left behind on the door knob when he first entered the house, because at that time he didn’t wear his gloves. So, the cops should be able to identify him easily. Because Cutler was a cop, then his print would have been in the database. Another weak logic was in Eddie Lorenzo. If he could resist from being at the bribe list, he surely could hold his temper there. Funny that a good cop went down because of a silly misunderstanding. Threatening Rose would also unnecessary. What’s the motive? It would have been another story if Eddie was in the list because that would give him a motive. Instead, it was Tom who was in the list.

Somehow, guessing who put Tom at the crime scene was not that difficult. The story was rather similar to any episode of CSI Miami. You got some guest stars, you could narrow them down, and then you know which one, because it won’t be any other than the guest stars. That’s why I also think CSI Miami sucks in plotting a good mystery.

For its effort to be a mystery flick, I give the Cleaner a 6.0. Messy and uninteresting plot seemed to push aside the potential of the cast.

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