If you work or live in a high-rise building, you probably haven’t given much thought to the people who clean the windows from the outside. Or if you have, you might have wondered how they have the courage to perch on a small platform hundreds of feet above the ground. But you might want to give them another look. One of them might be the only thing preventing you from falling victim to a gang of terrorists.

At least, that’s the unlikely premise of the new action film directed by James Bond veteran Martin Campbell (GoldenEye, Casino Royale) and starring Daisy Ridley as Joey, a window cleaner who finds herself desperately battling a gang of eco-terrorists who have taken over an energy company building and taken some 300 hostages.

Yes, Joey is the latest in a long series of unlikely action movie heroes who find themselves in the wrong...