The title pretty much gives away the plot if you're used to crime stories. Samuel L. Jackson is former cop Tom Cutler, who now owns 'Steri-Clean', a company that performs nasty clean up jobs, up to and including murder scenes. He's hired anonymously to personally handle a gruesome splatter job at an upscale residence, and finds himself set up for a crime he didn't commit. Over the course of the story we learn that Cutler had a shady past as a cop, the insinuation being that he killed a man in a prison yard who was convicted of murdering Tom's wife. Having him present at the scene of the murder was a scheme by outside forces to prevent him from going to authorities, since a corruption investigation could have potentially revealed that he had a past that needed to be kept hidden.

It's all pretty standard stuff for a murder mystery and crime story. As plot points are revealed, it's pretty easy to connect the dots from the murder scene to the killer, and when the finale arrives with Tom's former partner (Ed Harris) about to silence him forever, the fatal shot that stops him comes from Cutler's fourteen year old daughter (Keke Palmer),who spent most of the picture trying to unravel the mystery of her mother's death and why her father left the force. There's a bit of misdirection provided by supporting players Eva Mendes and Luis Guzmán, but their characters get sorted out as the story progresses. It's not a bad flick, just pretty standard and predictable as it heads toward the finish.

The concept of cleaner is really interesting. An ex-cop becoming a crime scene cleaner. It's unique. We usually see ex cops becoming PI's or something similar. It's kinda gross to think about it and even more to see it but it's a real thing so it got my attention. The cast is also excellent. Big names like Samuel L. Jackson and Ed Harris will always catch your attention. Unfortunately that's where the good ends.

The convoluted plot is weak and unbelievable. Corruption, murders, betrayal, vengeance, affairs... it's like a bad telenovela. The ending is as weak as the plot. When the credits roll you're left with the thought of "what the hell was that?" Maybe someday someone can take the good idea and make it into something worth watching. This was not.

The premise of 'Cleaner' is quite clever; a professional cleaner cleans up a crime scene, only to discover that, in spite of original appearances, the police had not recorded the crime at all. Unfortunately, as he tries to find out who has put him up to this, the film descends into regulation cliché. It's not an awful film, but it is the sort of movie in which, shortly after each character appears, you can reliably predict what their ultimate role in the plot will be; and where none of the various twists comes as a real surprise. Everything is improbably connected; there's a beautiful woman (although surprisingly no sex); it all comes down to a personal showdown at the end. It's watchable; but scarcely interesting.