Michael Clayton

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source: Michael Clayton

The plot in this very hard film to follow or comprehend is just beyond belief. The only redeeming quality here is a genuine terrific performance by Tom Wilkinson in a supporting role as a lawyer with a mental problem. Otherwise, you can totally forget this awful production. Clooney and Sydney Pollack have never been worse in a film. Pollack just repeats his lines as if he is reading them. There is very little emotion on his part. What did the hit and run driver at the beginning of the film have to do with the rest of the story? The story-line is so muddled. We all know that we have to watch out for crooked lawyers but this is beyond belief. Clooney's life in this film is one big mess and the film emulates that. Tilda Swinton comes to life only in the last scene. An extremely boring and most disappointing film.

A masterpiece with many great performances. While it is the worst of the Best Picture nominees, that says very little. This is the first year in a long time that all the nominees are great. This is Clooney's finest performance. He is subtle and gives a full blooded performance. Wilkinson is also brilliant, and probably gives the best performance of the film. He is one of the best character actors around, and this is why. I also loved Swintons subtle performance. She made what could have been a paint by numbers character something real. The screenplay was also brilliant, and full of twists. This is a truly entertaining, and great film. One of the best of 2007.

So there's this giant corporation that creates some super-pesticide (or something) that gets into the ground water of some rural upper Midwestern farmers, and low and behold, leads to all kinds of hellish cancer (exactly what the in-house scientists warned of) that then--Surprise!-- turns into a three billion dollar class action lawsuit. Six years into the seemingly endless proceedings, the lead attorney defending the evil corporation (Tom Wilkinson, channeling Peter Finch from "Network") turns into a raving morally conflicted lunatic. In steps the firm's "fixer" (George Clooney, somber and serious), the film's title character, to make sense of things and perform damage control. Meanwhile, the corporation's in-house counsel (Tilda Swinton, perfect as an unethical lawyer in way over her head) scrambles towards a fiscally feasible settlement before the truth is leaked. Despite the convoluted legal mumbo-jumbo, "Michael Clayton" is entertaining enough, as much of it results in some well executed scenes of wire-tapping and murder. In his directorial debut, screenwriter Tony Gilroy successfully plays with some stylistic elements. Most of this occurs in the film's editing as time-frames and POV's are occasionally jumbled, and dialogue frequently overlaps onto scene transitions. It keeps the viewers on their heels even when what's going is rather dry and boring. The early scenes with Swinton's character are especially well done, as is the elliptical focus on a car bombing. The performances are all top-notch, with the normally smug Clooney nailing the lead role with just the right amount of nonchalant star power. Unfortunately, the attempts at character development are superficial and stretch credibility. If Clayton is such a legal genius and so good at fixing problems, why does he have gambling issues and get sucked into bad business deals with his clichéd shifty brother? Clayton is also given an obnoxiously precocious son who plays into some of the film's more literary motifs, an ailing father, and a noble cop brother (yes, another brother) who factors too conveniently into the film's conclusion. None of these elements or unnecessary characters explain why Clayton is the way he is, or for that matter, who he really is. "Michael Clayton" comes to a modestly satisfying conclusion, though the internal conflict of Clayton isn't as compelling as Gilroy so valiantly wants it to be. Thanks to some stylish attempts to invigorate what is traditionally a low energy genre and some excellent performances, the film scores slightly higher than a top-line John Grisham adaptation, but still amounts to nothing extraordinary.

I mean this movie is one gigantic bomb and the only reason why it's been nominated for Best Picture is because quasi-intellectual halfwits realize that telling the truth will remove "quasi-intellectual." It was so bad, so slow moving, so meritless beyond comprehension, I actually dozed off. For sure there have been great films about lawyers. How about "The Verdict" with Paul Newman? That was what I called a winner. And "Philadelphia?" Was not "Inherit the Wind" a masterpiece? That's just three out of so so many and if you think this monstrosity "Clayton" comes close, fuggediboutit. So help me, George Clooney doesn't change his facial expression for the entire movie.He looks as bored as I was. The plot was nearly impossible to follow, especially when one falls asleep trying to follow it but I do know it was about one big bad unscrupulous law firm representing the plaintiff versus Clayton's firm representing the defense and Clayton is a lawyer without portfolio because all he does is act as a point man and detective rolled into one. And he drives a Mercedes named "Smokey." As good as Clooney was in "Good Night and Good Luck," that's how awful he is in this celluloid annoyance. Heck, George is ususally Danny Ocean. In this film, he ain't a puddle. Instead of recommending this picture, try "Alvin and the Chipmunks" if they're at the same multiplex. I not only wanted a refund but demanded they pay me for subjecting me to such torture.

So are spoken as some of the most desperate words- not crazy, there's a difference- in recent movie memory. Michael Clayton is about the character trying to deal with his hand of fate, which is pretty dire: he's 45, working for 17 years for a law-firm where he's a "fixer", cleaning up the problems that can't be solved through simple litigations. Now he has a problem with the chief attorney, the "legend" Arthur (Tom Wilkinson) who has just gone streaking after one of the witnesses in a parking lot. The whole case could fall apart, but is there more than meets the eye? Murder, wire-taps, cover-ups, bombs, and at the core the placidity of a straight-laced face (Tilda Swinton), are all apart of the not-too-complicated puzzle. It goes without saying that there is a little more than some debt that Gilroy owes to Network, if only in the face-value to be taken from the characters: the weathered professional, the nut who really has ecstatic truth in the Herzog sense, the cold and exacting woman, and the guy working as a top dog behind the scenes. But where Network was as dark as satires get, if there's any laughter to come out of Michael Clayton it's only in the extremely uncomfortable moments of Wilkinson walking in a daze through Times Square or disrobing maniacally on video, or a couple of chuckles at the wrap-up climax. It's a paranoid thriller where, in reality, it's not exactly paranoia in the strictest sense: if it's really happening, then it shouldn't be something to watch out for. But Gilroy continues to build on a sensibility of paranoia, of the darkness creeping up behind the corporate facade, of the sinister presence of those men in cars and vans with total access to whatever and whenever with the target. And you thought the Bourne movies- co-written by Gilory- were tense genre pieces. What makes a film like Michael Clayton end up as memorable as it is, almost essential for those wanting to go to the movies for a serious drama without pretense or extreme melodrama, is the script and the performances. It's indeed such a strong script that it surely covers over the direction- as a directorial debut it feels like the work of a professional with countless years behind the belt, with a few notes of experimentation (the opening rambling voice-over on the looming, still shots of the empty rooms at the office at night, and the final shot as something that breaks away from what could be a bit more predictable and instead kind of haunting). And it's something as literate as this that allows for actors to go for what they can do best: for Wilkinson, Oscar worthy to a T, it's both subtle and over-the-top with Arthur, at one point making a masterful stroke of carrying loaves of bread; Swinton makes the careful act of preparation and looking at a mirror like it's everything to the character; Pollack, solid as usual, not too much to say. Then there's Clooney. Already one of those leading men in Hollywood that has enough clout to probably get Sim City made into a movie if he wanted to, when given a serious and complex enough part to dive into (which has been frequent lately save for the Ocean movies) he's near perfect. I love seeing him on the brink of exploding at Arthur when he first sees him going on and on in the prison cell, or when he levels with his kid about his druggie-bum brother, or just in the way he looks frightened and unsure at some horses in a field. And the aforementioned shot couldn't be done so well by anyone else- you don't want to leave the theater even as the credits roll by, because he might do something, something slight behind the usual super-handsome exterior as he leaves the audience wanting to see more. It's an excellent genre film, but it's probably one of the few near perfect performances of the actor's career (and yes, I include Return of the Killer Tomatoes in that group).

I just fall in love with this movie, I didn't see a Thriller like this for long time, this movie is really good, I think George Clooney did a terrific job, so as the cost . This legal thriller was a pleasant surprise. I always expect to enjoy George Clooney's presence in a film. In this case, Clooney's excellent work is in evidence, but also watch for an Oscar-worthy turn from Tom Wilkinson, and a powerful, edgy performance by Tilda Swinton. Michael Clayton is perfectly paced, and complex without being confusing. The director, Tony Gilroy, chooses lingering and steady shots over in the jumbled, shaky hand-held style that is currently so in vogue -- and his choice works well as the tension and drama build to a climactic, and terrific, final act. In my opinion, if George Clooney keeps himself in the right direction he will definitely take another Oscar. Entertainment: 9.7/10 Overall Score: 9.5/10

I was really disappointed in this movie. It was just okay. I do not agree with the level of critical acclaim is has received. It was a decent (but not great) character study. It lacked any real suspense. It was pretty simple story that tried to appear complex. I think there were great individual acting performances, but I think something was lacking in the relationships between the story's main characters, which made it not compelling enough. One of the biggest reasons for the lack of suspense is that the flash-forward opening killed any possibilities of suspense in the movie's later scenes. The first 10 minutes shows the audience what will happen in the end, which makes a late-in-the-movie "car chase" not really a car chase (we know where he's headed!) among other spoiled moments. So instead the end just feels long and drawn out. I am not one who needs a lot of flashy action sequences to keep me interested in a story, so that is not my complaint. But even the psychological suspense was lacking. This movie was a story that showed Michael Clayton caught in the midst of a corrupt situation, and it showed how another character's guilt pulled him into madness. However, the insane character was already insane from the get-go, and Michael Clayton never was faced with a really juicy moral dilemma where BOTH choices are bad. I love movies where as an audience member I question what I'd do because the situation is so precarious. Instead, I was bored, waiting for Michael to get on with what was so obviously coming. A better psychological thriller/character study involving moral dilemma is "Breach." I recommend that over "Michael Clayton" any day.

I understand they were trying to be serious but their intentions took over the film. A special projects man played by George Clooney against the monstrous conglomerates bearing the face of Tilda Swinton. Scary? You bet! Little touches to let us know that the special projects man has a gambling problem and no life. Horses, in an indirect way, will save his life and well, you can sit through this couple of hours without guessing what's going to happen next and, if you permit me, without caring. I prefer George Clooney in his brighter, campier roles. I believe Cary Grant had the same problem but I would like to know who's idea was the Queen Christina moment through the closing credits. That was campy and allowed some much needed smiles. All in all, go to see it at your own peril.