‘Cleaner’ (2025)

Stream it on HBO Max.

We’ve seen so many “‘Die Hard’ on a ____” movies that it was probably inevitable that they’d circle back to “‘Die Hard’ in a building.” That’s the setup for this action thriller from the director Martin Campbell (who rebooted the Bond series twice, with “Goldeneye” and “Casino Royale”), in which a window cleaner (a muscular Daisy Ridley) is outside a London skyscraper when environmental terrorists crash an energy company’s celebratory gala and take its execs and employees hostage. “Cleaner” draws on many of the narrative beats of its inspiration, but also subverts them in unexpected ways — particularly in its use of Clive Owen as the Alan Rickman-style erudite villain. The primary draw, however, is Ridley, whose character is no mere window cleaner but a “classic unstable ex-soldier.” She thus proves a more than credible action hero, particularly when she finally gets to let loose and break some necks in the fast-paced third act.