Every generation gets its own Die Hard. So potent is the power of John McClane that the animated comedy Rick And Morty even devoted an entire episode to Rick imploring his teenage granddaughter to “do a Die Hard” in a space station. We’ve had Die Hard on a bus (Speed), Die Hard on a boat (Speed 2: Cruise Control), Die Hard on a different boat (Under Siege), Die Hard on a train (Under Siege 2), Die Hard in a couple of White Houses, Die Hard in various planes etc etc etc. Yet until the arrival of Cleaner, a new ostensibly original homegrown British action movie, we’d never really had a Die Hard in London.

On paper, there is much cause for optimism for Cleaner. The film is directed by veteran filmmaker Martin Campbell, responsible for two of the best James Bond films ever made (GoldenEye and Casino Royale...