Clean (2022)

Clean takes the well-worn “man with a past” crime thriller and gives it a bruised, soulful pulse, thanks to Adrien Brody’s unusually tender, lived-in performance as a garbage man trying to earn his way back to himself. Paul Solet drenches the film in a wintry, decaying-city atmosphere where every alleyway feels like it’s holding its breath, and the action—when it arrives—lands with gritty, physical conviction rather than glossy spectacle. What makes it stick isn’t just the intensity or the stunts, but the quiet ache underneath them: a sense that redemption is hard work, and violence is a door you don’t walk through unchanged. It is undeniably brutal and not for viewers who shy away from harsh, bloody confrontations, but if you like your crime dramas moody, muscular, and surprisingly heartfelt, this one earns your time.

Clean is clearly aiming for a grim, blue-collar redemption story with Adrien Brody leaning hard into the “broken man trying to do good” vibe, and the setting has a convincingly bleak, lived-in feel. The problem is it plays like a familiar revenge/crime checklist—earnest to a fault, heavy-handed in its themes, and rarely surprising if you’ve seen even a couple of similar vigilante dramas. The pacing can drag between bursts of violence, and when it finally cuts loose, it’s brutally graphic in a way that may feel more punishing than cathartic. If you want a fresh crime thriller or subtle character work, this probably isn’t it, but if you’re okay with a derivative, somber slow-burn anchored by Brody’s committed performance, you might get enough out of it.