Cleaner

Cleaner feels like a relic from a bygone era. The many comparisons it's received to Die Hard are debatable, although the marketing is certainly inviting them. To be fair, their cores are the same: an action-thriller in the style of an airport novel about an unassuming person thrust into a dangerous situation whose skills and wits help take down some terrorists. This type of lower-budget popcorn flick use to be a cinema mainstay, reliably bringing out audiences for a largely unremarkable yet well-constructed and compelling spectacle. They'd rely on word of mouth to drive box office, aiming for profitability by staying in theaters for months. And they could count on a strong second life in the video store, on people's shelves, and on cable.

But that business model doesn't really exist any more. Smaller films are no longer guaranteed a multi-week run, denying them the requisite time to build a reputation. The physical media market is a shadow of what it once was. Video stores are all but dead, and cable subscriptions have been sliding for the past decade. When you combine that with the change in moviegoer behavior (e.g. only going to the theater for "event films"), it's clear why so many release on streaming, like last year's Carry-On. Which makes it especially exciting to see one on the big screen wield that scale to emphasize the danger as successfully as Cleaner does.

Read my full review on Pop Culture Maniacs.