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I must say, this movie was average at its best. The one thing that shines in this movie are the three oscar nominated performances by Clooney, Wilkinsin and Swinton. Yet the story is remarkably simple and unimaginative, especially for a movie that has been Oscar nominated. I found the pacing of the movie to be a bit clumsy, especially the beginning and forming of the movie’s core conflict is very uncraftly introduced. Anyway, if you are into Law-dramas, this one is for you. I’d rather go for classic courtroom movies like “A few good men” or “presumed innocent”

Michael Clayton is an incredible piece of film making. From the razor sharp script, to the impeccable acting, to the suprisingly beautiful cinematography, direction and wonderful original score this film is a complete ten out of ten for me. The story is a skillfully woven tale of greed, regret, borderline insanity, and death. Tom Wilkinson is superb and I fully believe he deserved the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for this part. Not only because he is magnificent, but also because I think we all know that Javier Bardem was pretty much the lead character in No Country For Old Men. Tilda Swinton, who did grab some gold, is an intensely real “villain,” if you will, and brings power to every scene she enters. George Clooney demands your attention and reminds us that he is a real actor with range, not just good for dopey characters (the scene used at the beginning and end has so many layers to it when seen in both contexts, it’s amazing.) Sydney Pollack is also very good, doing a lot with a little in one of his last roles. I honestly cannot say enough good things about this movie. It’s posotively riveting! This film is sharp, clean, intense and engaging, and I have seen very few movies that equal it.

Michael Clayton- Will the Truth Set You Free? (originally written March 6th, 2009)

The world has taught us since the day we were born that we should always aspire to honesty, and some historical figures have lost much depth and truth to become maxims for this virtue. However, this moralizing pedagogy is derived from a system concurrently whispering in our naive ears that we must do whatever it takes to succeed. The perils of such a disconnect are evident in Tony Gilroy’s 2007 film Michael Clayton, which can be found in the Grace Doherty Library DVD collection.

The title character, portrayed by George Clooney, is a disaffected “fixer” for a prominent New York law firm who, due to financial problems created by a wayward brother, has become quite desperate. Clooney’s performance is absolutely astonishing; here, he sheds his “pretty boy” image, taking on the role of a modern-day Atlas: when we first see Michael, we know this is a man who carries the problems of his world on his back. Rarely has the screen given shape to a character so visibly fatigued. Even after the film’s conclusion, Clooney continues to give a bravura performance, which alone would have been enough to earn him an Oscar nomination; be sure to watch the credits, featuring a beautiful pantomime performance of a man who has made an incredibly tough decision and must now live with the consequences

Clayton is sent by his firm to Milwaukee to rectify a situation involving the instability of one of their top lawyers, Arthur Edens, who is representing U-North, a major manufacturer of agricultural products, in a class-action lawsuit. Edens, as played by Tom Wilkinson, is not your standard insane character; on the contrary, he’s the sanest guy in the room, becoming the only person able to see the truth of the hypocrisy and greed he has disturbingly enabled for so long, then attempts to distance himself from it, intending to bring the corruption and truth of U-North to public scrutiny.

Completing the main cast is Tilda Swinton as Karen Crowder, the new head of Legal Affairs for U-North. What Ms. Swinton has done here is transform a character that could be performed as your cardboard creation into a living, breathing persona. Crowder develops into the film’s main villain, but unlike most devious fictional creations, we never feel like she’s a bad person, but instead someone who is desperate to show her bosses she can take care of business. In one scene, as Crowder’s preparing to take drastic action to keep company information secret, she hesitates and ponders the ramifications to be unleashed, she hesitates for several seconds, and in those moments, the viewer watches a soul searching itself, questioning what should be done. Such evidence of humanity makes Crowder one of the most intriguing screen antagonists in years; it’s no wonder Ms. Swinton won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for this performance.

However, this is far from a perfect film. The subplot involving Michael and his brother, while giving the title character additional angst, does not seem real and fluid, but stale and tacked on, and one crucial point of an important concluding scene has been used in so many works that it has become quite clichéd. Nevertheless, Gilroy’s script, save for the above reservations, is tight, compact, but open-ended enough to leave the fate of Michael Clayton up to the viewer. While the truth may set you free, Michael Clayton is exactly the type of film that pulls you in and rarely lets you go, even when it ends.

Pretty much a waste of my two hours.

The film centers on Michael Clayton, a bummed-out guy who works for a Big Old Law Firm, running around cleaning up messes, helping big clients get local representation when they’re involved in hit and runs, etc. Michael has some problems of his own: he’s a divorced dad, he has gambling problems and a bozo brother who has ruined a business that Clayton set up for him leaving Clayton holding the financial bag, and so on.

Clayton’s Big Old Law Firm is handling a Gigantic Multi-Billion Dollar lawsuit, representing a bunch of people who are suing a Big Old Chemical Company for damages having to do with a toxic pesticide. The Partner handling the Gigantic Lawsuit loses his mind, and Michael has to clean up the mess, which he soon realizes is a lot messier than he had imagined.

I’m breathing a lot more life into the film’s cliched storylines than the filmmakers manage to. It takes very nearly an hour for the two paragraphs worth of plot above to get established onscreen, believe it or not. There’s also a flashback device that feels rather like it was added post-production in an attempt to get some kind of energy into the proceedings, but winds up being counter-effective.

There’s no denying that the film overall is well-intentioned. It seems to want to transcend the legal thriller genre, to be more than just a bunch of courtroom/legalistic shenanigans, but it just doesn’t have anything particularly interesting to transcend the genre with. This is a Serious Movie, make no mistake. We get lots of sad character information about Michael Clayton, all of it grim grim grim, and nobody else seems any happier. There’s a lot of mood lighting and overcast skies and involved corporate legal jargon stuff. Even the obligatory Big Finish is muted, as Michael’s Triumph Over Corporate Evil nets him only a cab ride into an uncertain future. There’s just none of the life and energy (the entertainment value, in short) of even the most exhausted Grisham knockoff. I’m not saying I wanted shoot-outs and bizarro Tarantino dialogue, but I would have given a lot for the film to have been directed by a Sidney Lumet or a pre-OUT OF AFRICA Sidney Pollack.

The actors try their best to make all this work, with Tilda Swinton and Tom Wilkinson being only the most recognized of the generally good cast. Even Denis O’Hare gets some good fun going as a pissed-off client, who inspires one of Clooney’s best slow burns. But without a director able to consistently keep the pacing lively and get some (metaphorical) blood flowing, MICHAEL CLAYTON is DOA.

Yeah…I was really blown away.

I had lowered expectations going in…and left incredibly refreshed. The plot…not all that original. Big corporation is killing people because of some sly, underhanded scheme it’s trying to cover up. We’ve all heard it before (The Constant Gardener, Syriana, The Insider). Blah blah blah.

Where this film excels is in its execution. It was phenomenal. The use of silence, camera movement, fluidity, sequencing, and good acting. Tony Gilroy did an outstanding job of pulling it all together. He took all the great elements of filmmaking and made them work together so well, that I see very few flaws with the film.

In terms of It might be George Clooney’s best performance and I think he deserved the Oscar nomination. I also think Tom Wilkinson did great. But I really don’t think Tilda Swinton deserved the nomination or the Oscar…but that’s just me.

I think this film was cursed to come out in a year of such great films. 2007 really was a year of well-made budget films…and although I hate the Oscars, I do like when a film that actually deserves to win, wins (I suffer from Hollywood hypocrisy like the rest of you). I think that in any other year, Michael Clayton would’ve been a true contender.

The man behind the scripts for the Bourne trilogy (and The Cutting Edge) has decided to step into the director’s chair for his new film Michael Clayton. Along with an A-list producing crew (Sydney Pollack, Steven Soderbergh, Anthony Minghella) Tony Gilroy has assembled a brilliant cast of big names and familiar faces. After the action-packed Matt Damon-starrers he decided to go more psychological in the thriller category. It would be tough for a first-time director to choreograph extended fight sequences, and credit him for leaving that to the professionals. This film relies on the acting and tight story of internal espionage between a multi-billion dollar corporation and the law firm that defends it. While containing many elements keeping it in the mainstream—numerous coincidences are necessary for the film to work—even when you know something is going to happen, Gilroy keeps the pace edge of your seat, allowing even the obvious to have a successful payoff.

In a nutshell, the story tells of a law firm’s top defense attorney growing a conscience. After six years of his life defending a client that most likely did knowingly kill 500 people with pesticide, he stops taking his medication and decides to cleanse himself of the filth he feels covers his body. This breakdown comes at a crucial moment in the case as evidence has turned up proving the U-North company had knowledge of the destructive qualities of their work. Because of this, we are introduced to the “fixers” of both sides, becoming involved to set things right. Both Tilda Swinton and George Clooney are fantastic in their roles as Karen Crowder of U-North and Michael Clayton of Kenner Bach Law respectively. They each need to start uncovering what went wrong and think of ways to rectify the situation. Although they are essentially on the same side, neither feels the need to let the other know what they are doing to clean up the mess.

At the crux of the tale is the question of how far one is willing to go before morality has to eventually set in. The mental breakdown of the lead attorney—Tom Wilkinson at his finest, turning on a dime from crazed to professional at one point in a phenomenal confrontation with Clooney in an alley—proves that a man who spends his entire adult life helping keep murderers out of jail can one day find the light. Seeing one of the victim’s suffering, along with the evidence that could blow the case wide open, finally brings him to the cusp of flipping sides. As for Michael Clayton, Clooney is on retainer to fix problems, something he has done for Wilkinson’s character in the past. He never quite knows the whole story because he doesn’t need to; his job is to keep his old friend under control. However, Swinton’s General Counsel has no second thoughts on what side of the law she is on. Able to squash any second thoughts or conscience that appears to be fighting its way to the surface, she does whatever is necessary to gain control over the case again. The question then becomes, will her vicious tactics eventually awaken the sleeping giant inside Clooney, or will he remain oblivious to the real problem and just take his money to pay off a brother’s debt and go home to his son?

Although we are given moments of contrivance, a phone call to Clooney as he leaves a poker game; a field of horses that looks like a picture in his son’s favorite book, which coincidentally is a main point in Wilkinson’s evolution post-meltdown; the arrival of the case’s main victims in NY at just the right moment, Gilroy still manages to make it all work. The pacing is perfect, in my opinion, and thus keeps you anticipating the next move, helping to allow one to see past the easy bridges of the plot. From the getgo you will probably have an idea in your head for how it all will play out, yet the journey still delivers with high tension. A lot is going on in Clayton’s life, events that would make a lesser man buckle, but this janitor has the gumption to stick through to the end in order to set things right for his brothers, his old friend, the case’s innocent victims, and himself. Whether you accept all that happens or not, the film is a ride worth taking. If for nothing but the final confrontation between Clooney and Swinton, a powerhouse sequence that both deliver the goods on, the movie is one to checking out.