Director Martin Campbell has a long-established reputation for crafting some of the most awe-inspiring and influential action films of the modern era, from the swashbuckling fun of The Mask of Zorro (1998) to the reinvention of James Bond (not once but twice) with GoldenEye (1995) and Casino Royale (2006). With Cleaner (2025), Campbell sets his sights on the high-rise action thriller — a subgenre with lofty expectations, thanks to classics like 1988’s Die Hard. While Cleaner doesn’t necessarily reach those heights, it’s still a taut and well-executed ride with a unique perspective, anchored by a large ensemble of strong performances with Star Wars and Young Woman and the Sea star Daisy Ridley front and center.

The film introduces us to Daisy Ridley’s character, Joey Locke, in an early flashback that establishes her resourcefulness from a young age. Growing up in a volatile household, she learns to escape — both literally and figuratively — by scaling the walls and furniture of her dirty, cramped London apartment. It’s an evocative way of setting up skills that will later come in handy in the story. Flash forward to the present, and Joey is now a professional high-rise window cleaner, suiting up to scrub the glass of a massive corporate skyscraper.