Michael Clayton Movie Review

George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson; Directed by Tony Gilroy

I have a confession to make. I only saw this movie because it was nominated for seven Academy Awards. Normally, a thriller about the white-collar corporate underworld, with 90% of its characters being lawyers of some form, would not interest me in the least. I don't care if it does star George Clooney. However, I knew that if I was to accomplish my plan to see all five films nominated for Best Picture before the Oscars this year, I could not ignore Michael. So, instead of silently griping about it, I simply decided to relax, and let myself get washed into the plot with Tom Wilkinson's disquieting opening monologue.

Now there were several elements that I was fully expecting to see. These were things like explosions, a condemning file of evidence, expensive suits, taxicabs, alcohol, and some sort of rift between our lawyer hero and his family. I saw them all. What was unconventional was that one of the major characters in the story, Arthur (Tom Wilkinson), was a manic depressive who had recently gone off his medication and stripped down naked during a legal session with a client (and was caught on video during the scene). That unexpected wrench in the cogs of a major law firm will pique interest in most audience members.

When this regrettable event begins to cause major problems with a company engaged in a nasty lawsuit with Michael Clayton's corporation, he is called upon to handle the problem. When he meets up with Arthur, he is dismayed to find that his friend has apparently gone loopy after having had a revelation about the dirty work and cold-blooded company he has spent his life working for. Michael, being the fixer (or "janitor") decides it best to keep Arthur under everyone's radar until he gets back to normal. But when Michael loses control of his charge, the rival company's 'fixer' (Tilda Swinton) lashes out desperately to save everything that lawyers love most.

Tilda Swinton is always fun to watch because she's an actress who pays particular attention to how her physicality is going to be incorporated into the personality she takes over. Her final scene with Clooney is hard evidence of this. Mr. Clooney himself did an above-average job here, but I do not see him as a top contender amongst his fellow Oscar nominees. Kudos to him no less. Wilkinson was very good as well. A lesser actor would've have hammed things up, but he kept his insanity contained, which is what any good psychologically ailing person does to prove to others that they are perfectly sane.

I think Michael Clayton was a very good film, but I still didn't leave the theatre with visions of golden statuettes dancing in my head. The plot has a few twists, but as I mentioned earlier, there were a lot of standard "lawyer film" conventions that played out. No big surprises, well, besides the naked attorney thing. The dialogue was rapid-fire and colorful, but also strayed into being bombastic at times.

The one scene I really appreciated was one where George Clooney leaves his expensive car by the side of the road to climb a hill where three horses are standing. He looks into their large eyes with equally somber ones. The creases in his face become more apparent, and his telling gaze seems to convey a sense of longing for the true and simple things of the good earth. Atop this hill he seems a world away from the confines and fast pace of the big cities of metal and concrete. I respected Clooney the man more than Clooney the actor in this scene, because it made my heart go out to this powerful Hollywood player who hadn't far to reach inside himself to show us what it is to feel caged.

Grading:
Story = B
Originality = B-
DVD Features = N/A
Acting = A
Enjoyability = B+
Visuals = B+
Overall = B+