rowing up in an abusive family, with her father continually yelling at her mother, little Joanna “Joey” Locke escapes the difficult environment by climbing across the cabinets and out the window of her high-rise apartment. As a result, she grows up having no fear of heights. 20 years later, Joey’s (Daisy Ridley) life leaves a lot to be desired, as she regularly sleeps through the alarm in her unkempt home, forced to rush out the door with day-old microwaved coffee to hop on her undependable motorcycle as her boss Derek (Gavin Fleming) calls to berate her tardiness. To complicate matters, her troubled, autistic brother Michael (Matthew Tuck) has had his ninth care home placement fall through, leading to his immediate dismissal, which means that he’ll have to stay with Joey.

“It was a family emergency!” As foreshadowed by her upbringing, Joey is now a window cleaner for Agnian Energy, housed in a massive skyscraper, which requires the constant scaling and descending of towering heights as she washes away dirt and grime – alongside friendly coworker Noah Santos (Taz Skylar). And since she barely makes it to work on time, she’s penalized by being forced to clean a “bird strike” on level 51 – as well as by staying late to make up for lost hours, which means that Michael, with his erratic behavior, starts to get antsy and lash out. Of course, the evening is about to become even more chaotic when a lavish party near the top floor gets hijacked by hi-tech eco-activists and environmental extremists called “Earth Revolution.”

As it so happens – as is often the case in these types of pictures – Joey isn’t just a mere window cleaner. She has a background that involved the development of some very special skills: skills that will come in handy when she needs to singlehandedly save the day. “I’ll do my best.” Clearly, this film doesn’t shy away from its direct copying of the primary premise in “Die Hard.” Here, dapper rogue Marcus Blake (Clive Owen) attempts to control his minions, but they’re not all on the same page, which means that additional bedlam weaves its way through the hostage plot. Curiously, the two top bosses of Agnian – a pair of obnoxious brothers who very clearly look down upon their underlings – exhibit all the hallmarks of extreme class inequality vitriol. As a result, it’s actually rather easy to side with the terrorists; their cause doesn’t sound so wrong, at least initially.

A few twists do arise, which means that “Cleaner” is aware that without a series of drastic changes to the standard formula, audiences will be too familiar with how everything unfolds. Unfortunately, the plot doesn’t grow more complicated in an intriguing manner; it tends to just meander, stalling in the name of allowing the antagonists’ schemes to find fruition, while also letting the police get closer to solving motives and intentions. In these minutes, there’s a dearth of creativity, often resorting to common chatter – overconfident bluster from the antagonists and anticipated arguments amongst the opposition. The delaying tactics also enable the lone hero to reconnect with her brother (a largely needless inclusion that mostly just gets in the way of realism) and engage in hand-to-hand combat sequences that are nicely choreographed and feature believable confrontations. The action moments are a decent contrast to the over-the-top nature of the villains, though they’re not enough to counteract the generic qualities of the supporting roles and the largely unimpressive outcomes. It’s also evident when mediocre special effects are used, but that’s minor compared to the blandness of the concluding shots – something especially disappointing considering the direction by veteran action helmer Martin Campbell (“Casino Royale,” “The Mask of Zorro,” “Edge of Darkness”).

– Mike Massie