The Clean Up Crew

Greetings again from the darkness. Even before the opening credits roll, we get a scene with gunpoint humor, as Antonio Banderas skips right over 'chewing scenery' and dives into devouring the scene. Banderas takes his crime lord Gabriel over-the-top, quoting Machiavelli, so that we understand we are in for an action-crime-comedy. Directed by Jon Keeyes and written by Matthew Rogers, some of it works and some of it doesn't.

When the goal is strictly entertainment, a film should be judged accordingly, especially when it's made under a limited budget. Three years after that opening scene, Gabriel is late on his payoff to the corrupt cops who protect his illegal business ventures, and soon enough, he discovers that a couple of over-zealous thugs have stolen (or at least tried to steal) his money. The case filled with cash is stuffed in the chimney before our next shootout, which occurs in a dark room, creating pretty cool effects.

Siobhan (Oscar winner Melissa Leo, THE FIGHTER, 2010) owns Good Life Cleaners, a crime scene cleaning company. Her crew consists of Alex (Jonathan Rhys Meyers, MATCH POINT, 2005), his girlfriend Meagan (Ekaterina Baker, THE CARD COUNTER, 2021), and Chuck (Swen Temmel, AMERICAN TRAITOR: THE TRIAL OF AXIS SALLY, 2021). When they discover the money, skittish Alex wants to turn it in. Meagan wants to keep it for their future. Siobhan and Chuck have their own secrets as she tries to keep the drug-addicted former military man on the right path.

Things really spiral once this crew begins debating what to do with the money and realizing that The Commission (Gabriel's organization) is pursuing them. Meagan gets taken hostage, setting off a wild chain of events - most of which feature violent shootouts. In addition to Machiavelli quotes, Gabriel is also a fan of playing Russian roulette with his big, shiny pistol, and yelling at his crew to get his money back. It seems that Banderas and Meyers are the leads, but Temmel's Chuck, a one-man wrecking crew, is the more intriguing character, and it's a shame that Melissa Leo is mostly wasted, if not miscast here.

There is a sense that director Keeyes was going for a Guy Ritchie-type experience, however, the dialogue is never quite crackling enough for that level. The action has a bit of FREE FIRE (2016) feel to it, but again, not quite at that level. For one that's entertaining enough to sit through, but also allows time to scroll on your phone, this one delivers.

Available on Digital and On Demand beginning August 20, 2024.

I started watching it because of the (allt time great) actor Antonio Banderas, but even his performance isnt enough to make this worth my while...

The bad: Antonio Banderas' character is pretty silly, but at least his performance has got some charm to it. BUT the other (unknown) Irish actors are plain bland and acting way below average. Mind you, better like watching subtitles otherwise you wouldnt understand half of the Irish accents.

NOT funny. NOT thrilling. NOT original. It's a gangsta comedy WANNABE. The Irish arent any good at making movies. The Brits are. But this is an Irish production and it painfully shows. NOT recommended, not even for the Antonio Banderas fans, of which I am one!

Just because this film stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Melissa Leo, and Antonio Banderas don't be fooled. This is the most tiresome, tedious, uninteresting, and downright boring movie any of the above actors has ever been in. I'd like to blame the Covid area, or the writers strike. But that doesn't explain why this group of particular actors chose to be in this movie. My one word review would be rancid. This is the most tiresome, tedious, uninteresting, and downright boring movie any of the above actors has ever been in. I'd like to blame the Covid area, or the writers strike. But that doesn't explain why this group of particular actors chose to be in this movie. My one word review would be rancid.

I watched this this movie for days but I had to complete it because I don't leave a movie unfinished poor story line, absolute horrible acting even with my favorite actor Antonio Banderas at first when I saw the movie poster I thought oh wait another Antonio Banderas movie this is gonna be excited but i come here to express my deepest disappointment I've never watched something more cringe and horrible in my life the director of this movie should never make movies again in my opinion also I think popular actors should avoid certain projects like the absolute rubbish I just watched movie lovers deserve the best.

Banderas plays a Spanish crime boss based in Ireland who is in cahoots with corrupt local police. This is established with some silly opening scenes, which at least tells us how to take this film - as a black comedy.

A few years ahead of the opening and things go awry as a shootout during a payoff leaves a case of money missing and the cops unpaid. Enter the four person clean-up crew, which includes Rhys Meyers, who find the case stashed up a chimney at the crime scene by the wounded sole survivor, whose return to the scene to recover it, is badly timed.

Mayhem ensues as Banderas sends another henchman to get the money back from the oddball foursome who are still deciding what to do with it. And no one really knows or accounts for the skills of the drugged-up, paranoid ex-military member of the quartet.

Banderas hams it up as the angry crime boss, who constantly quotes Machiavelli to almost everyone's annoyance, which would be amusing but for the fact that he stands out so much for doing so, when almost everyone else plays it straight and dry.

The rest of the cast, script and situations, tend to be, at most, mildly amusing rather than laugh-out loud funny. The humour does have a dry Irish quality to it, but it isn't very strong and doesn't come close to something like Derry Girls, nor is this movie a patch on the likes of an early Guy Ritchie move like Snatch or Lock Stock. Those were the places and heights that this movie seemed to hoping for, but misses by a considerable margin.

It's watchable, but only just. It could fill an hour and a half if you have nothing better to do or see.