Die Hard 2/The Long Kiss Goodnight director Renny Harlin has
long reigned as one of Hollywood's preeminent vulgarians. When super-producer
Joel Silver wanted to transform Andrew "Dice" Clay from potty-mouthed laffsmith
to big-budget action hero in The Adventures Of Ford Fairlane, Harlin was the slickster
he tapped for the job. Similarly, when Paul Schrader's Exorcist: Dominion got art and ambition all
over a lucrative film franchise built on a solid foundation of head-spinning,
foul-mouthed demons, and projectile vomiting, Harlin was recruited to add the
flash, trash, and gratuitous gore missing from Schrader's more sober,
philosophical prequel. So it's a profound disappointment that Harlin's latest
effort, the direct-to-DVD thriller Cleaner, lacks even the vulgar energy of Harlin's
lesser films, in spite of a centrally present iconic badass legendary for
yelling profanely about airborne reptiles.
