Cleaner follows Joey Locke, a former soldier who now washes windows on a London skyscraper. When armed activists seize a gala inside the building, Joey is trapped outside while her autistic older brother is among the hostages. She must use her training, the window platform, and help from the police to reach him and stop the attack. The film is a fast, tense action thriller with family drama, violent fights, and a clear echo of Die Hard.
The story gives its female lead the main action hero role and lets her defeat a group of male attackers. It also makes autism, family care, and the poor treatment of care home residents part of Joey and Michael's story. The activists say a large energy company hides pollution, bribes officials, and harms people, and the film confirms that some of those claims are true. The film rejects the group's mass killing plan, but it still ends with Joey and Michael exposing the company's wrongdoing, so environmental ideas and criticism of big business shape the plot without taking over every scene.
Community feedback
Was our 41% Woke rating accurate?
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Cleaner.
Woke representation / casting
The film makes a woman the main action hero and shows her defeating male attackers across the story. Joey’s military past explains her combat skills. The film does not present her gender or the wider cast as a diversity-first message.
12%
Woke political dialogue
The activists repeatedly speak about pollution, oil permits, public lies, and holding a powerful company accountable. Marcus links Agnian to destroyed ecosystems and the killing of a protester. Noah says humans are a plague and that humanity should die. The film condemns his killings, but it treats Agnian’s corruption as real.
34%
Identity-driven story themes
The film centers a female action hero and makes care for her autistic older brother part of the main emotional story. Michael is given useful skills and helps expose wrongdoing instead of serving only as a helpless hostage. The care home is shown mistreating residents and taking their money. These ideas recur, but the film does not build a broad identity-politics message.
24%
Western institutional / cultural critique
The film shows Agnian Energy presenting itself as clean while secretly dumping waste and hiding its damage. The story also shows company owners bribing a minister and using public messages to deny wrongdoing. Joey and Michael later publish the evidence, so the film treats company and political corruption as real and punishable. The story targets a corrupt system rather than faith, family life, or all Western society.
45%
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. Cleaner is an original story, so it does not change an established character, canon, or real historical figure.
0%
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
A few public X accounts called the film “feminist Die Hard,” “Woke Die Hard,” or “DEI Hard.” Some complaints focused on a woman replacing a male action hero and on the environmental activist plot. Engagement was small, and no boycott or review-bombing campaign appeared. The backlash was fringe.
15%
Creator track record context
Martin Campbell has a mild environmental concern but no strong identity-politics record. He described the film’s activist conflict while saying his main goal was entertainment. Taz Skylar gave Noah a warning about young people who feel ignored. The other cached creators show little activist or DEI context.
10%
Production
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