Published: July 16, 2008 12:00 am            

'Cleaner' a gritty, grimy crime gem

"Cleaner" is a crime thriller starring Samuel L. Jackson ("Pulp Fiction"), Ed Harris ("A History of Violence"), and Eva Mendes ("Ghost Rider"). Jackson plays Tom Cutler, a retired cop who now works at a crime scene cleaning company. His former partner as a cop and godfather to his daughter is Eddie Lorenzo, played by Harris. Mendes plays Ann Norcut, a woman whose husband is missing and suspects foul play.

The film opens at Cutler's high school reunion as he describes the incredibly disturbing work that he does to his former classmates. His narration accompanies an example of a day on the job as he cleans up after an accidental death by ridding the apartment of all traces of blood and killing any bacteria that may have started to grow in the three days it took for someone to find the body. While it is not work that most people could stomach, his past in the police department made him well-suited for this job and provides a much more stable environment for his daughter.

The story centers on a strange crime scene cleanup Cutler performs early on in the film. He gets the work order in the usual way with notes that the house key will be under a plant on the porch. When he arrives at the house in an upper-class neighborhood there is no one there, but the key lets him in. The police seal is on the door, indicating that they had been there to do their forensic work in their investigation of the murder. Cutler documents the scene with Polaroids and gets to work. When he's finished, you would never know that anything had happened in that house.

Things take a turn towards the strange when he realizes later that he forgot to replace the key. When he returns to the home, Mrs. Norcut answers the door and was completely unaware that anyone had been hired to do a cleaning job the day before. Flustered, Cutler backtracks and lies to her, saying that he must have the wrong address and leaves.

From there, Cutler has to decide what to do about a situation that obviously had not involved the police as it should have. He confides in his former partner and they plan to keep the whole thing covered up, despite efforts from the police force to find out what happened to Mr. Norcut.

All this goes on while there is also a police force shakedown, as there have been some dirty cops and it is unclear who is on the honest side of the law. As the film goes on it becomes clear to Cutler that he may also be implicated in the corruption scandal, thus pushing him to become more involved in the case despite his former partner's advice.

I should say that while there is a bit of blood early on in the film, there is actually very little violence in the film itself. It is the twists and turns that drive the movie, rather than gore, which is decidedly more interesting.

The look of the film is washed in dark grays and muted blues. This helps to keep the film feeling a bit gritty and dirty which mirrors the action taking place in the film.

The only special features on the DVD are a feature commentary track with director Renny Harlin and some deleted scenes. I would have liked either Jackson to accompany Harlin on the commentary track, or a featurette on the making of the film with cast interviews and behind the scenes footage.

For a thriller that will keep you guessing until the end, check out "Cleaner" in your local store's new releases section today.

Please send your comments, questions, and DVD recommendations to Kelsey at pop@normantranscript.com.

        

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