Rating: 4.5 /5Ideals versus the reality of paying a mortgage? Trapped in a fast lifestyle. You may realize what you are doing is less than perfect. How easily can you get out? (One might also ask, how do serious actors balance worthwhile projects against box-office returns. A question that seems to prompt the fluctuating choices of stars like Swinton and Clooney.)
By putting such an impasse at the heart of the movie, Michael Clayton becomes more than an edge-of-your-seat legal drama: it is a powerful psychological study that asks how far we will go to avoid facing unpalatable truths.
Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is an in-house 'fixer.' He works for a big New York law firm. He sorts out their dirty work. For instance, a big client is involved in a hit-and-run. Or bad stories in the press that need smoothed out. Clayton is good at his job. But discontented. Divorce, gambling addiction, failed business venture, loads of debt. No easy way out, even if he wanted one.
U-North is a large agrichemical company (think Constant Gardener). Their in-house chief counsel is Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton). Karen wants to see off a multi-million dollar class action suit. Clayton's firm is employed to wind it all up nicely for her. But Clayton's colleague, the brilliant Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson), has an apparent mental breakdown. He strips off during a deposition. Then tries to sabotage the entire case. Clayton goes in to 'fix' things, yet he is gradually forced to admit how good the firm has maybe become at making wrong seem right.
Much in the tradition of Erin Brockovitch or even Syriana, this is a film that tries to attack the respected authorities while still working within the format of mainstream cinema. (More cynically, it uses high production values and scenes that last no longer than the attention span of passive audiences – supposedly the length of a TV commercial break.)
With the constant dialog, it might fail to satisfy action-flick fans easily which it seems like one in the trailer. But as a suspense thriller, it's possibly the best one of the year or even in years. The important topic of the downfall sense of justice is a very present message to the society which is filled with the value that measured by money and power. And the gripping storytelling and the dream-alike ensemble cast shows what a great movie is made of.
1 comment:
Michael Clayton is a riveting, suspenseful, rip-roaring entertainment. This movie is a testament to Clooney's talent as an actor and to writer/director Tony Gilroy's skill as a storyteller.
This is a not an action movie in the manner of the Bourne movies, but instead it is quietly paranoid, a throwback to the '70s style storytelling of something like The Conversation or The Parallax View. Gilroy does not create white-knuckle suspense so much as a simmering tension that will surely burn Clayton if it ever comes to a boil. Editor John Gilroy, the director's brother, deserves a lot of credit for maintaining an unhurried pace that nevertheless telegraphs the threat that Clayton faces.
Clooney is terrific, his world-weary charm perfect for the tarnished Clayton, and Swinton and Pollack offer wonderful supporting turns. But this movie belongs to Wilkinson, who is simply breathtaking. Michael Clayton may be the movie's hero, but Arthur Edens is its moral center. Wilkinson's sublime performance elevates Michael Clayton from an above-average thriller into the realm of greatness.
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