Clean

Marked For Death. Commando. The Exterminator. Loads of other 80's action thrillers. They always had one particular scene in common. The preparation montage where handguns are loaded, shotguns are racked, knives are sharpened, bombs are built and DIY weapons are knocked together from the stuff you find under the sink. It always happens at the point of no return, when the good guy's endgame is about to come into play and you know things are about to get wild. Any 80's throwback thriller worth it's salt should have one and Clean's prep work scene leads to an exceedingly bloody climax but the build up to it might be a bit too much for some. 

Clean is so ponderous and moody that at times it verges on parody but a muscular turn from Adrien Brody saves it from DTV hell. He's never been the most animated of actors so his screen persona suits the role of Clean, a garbage man disgusted by the state of the city around him. He's a quiet fella, living a simple life, doing the jobs no one else wants to. His only human contact is with his sponsor Travis (Mykelti Williamson) and a teenage girl from the neighbourhood called Diandra (Chandler DuPont ) who reminds him of his past. A past that's the reason for his lowkey present. A present lived out in a part of town where criminality is rife and everyone is in thrall to Michael (Glenn Fleshler), a violent crimeboss who loves getting his hands dirty. One evening their paths cross and well.....I'm sure you can guess the rest. As a famous Taxi Driver once said "Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets."

Yes that is The RZA

It's appalling the damage a close range shotgun blast can do to a human head. It's a gory moment that kicks off a vicious finale but after almost 75 minutes of place-setting it's not as satisfying as it should be. A nasty blowing alley encounter aside we get well over an hour of grim narration accompanying drone shots of urban decay before (let's be honest here) the stuff we all came here for splashes across the screen. When it does finally hit it's visceral and made even more crunching by the fact that Clean is a dab hand at what he does. An axe wielding foursome? Pah! A houseful of hardened criminals? LOL. That dark past eh and all the shades of grey that come with it. Unlike the heroes of the three films mentioned earlier Clean isn't a good guy, his criminal past hinted at in blood-soaked flashes to the past. But as the story moves forward and the stakes rise he sees an opportunity to use his skills for something good, there's a glimpse of redemption on the horizon. There's a noticeable Paul Schrader-esque feel in the latter half of the film but there's none of his subtlety.

Brody, who's career seems to have died a death in the last decade for whatever reason, does a fine job here as a convincing killing machine and Glenn Fleshler as his nemesis is a pleasingly menacing foil. At first he looks and sounds like a cut-price version of Marvel's Kingpin but when his family becomes intertwined in the story it adds an unusual edge to the story, one that somehow makes him seem both more evil and more human. And as you know, the more evil a bad guy is the more satisfying his comeuppance is. You could set your watch to that maxim of filmmaking.

Clean isn't a bad film at all but it's pacing leaves a lot to be desired. Had it's carnage been more evenly spaced out you'd have a lot more fun with it. 

Streaming online now.