September 26, 2007
A brave title for a bold movie. Michael Clayton sounds boring, missable and drab: and that’s kind of the point – because so too is the title character, a legal fixer with a high-powered law firm, who moves in the shadows, doing the dirty work no one else can. If you’re a hit and run driver, a shoplifting wife, a crooked politician…who you gonna call? Michael Clayton.
Clayton’s a mess, hates his job and wants out. But when the in-house lawyer of an agro-chemical client veers off-message, Clayton’s brought in stave off an expensive class-action. But coming face-to-face with company corruption only shows Clayton what he’s become. And he’s going to need all his washed-out nerve to save himself from a rising tide of extremely murky waters.
In Michael Clayton, George Clooney continues his penchant for issues-based movies. Good Night and Good Luck dealt with one man’s stand against political witch-hunts. Syriana mired itself in the oily world of petrochemical politics and international terrorism. And in Michael Clayton the focus is corporate duplicity.
But unlike the others, Michael Clayton is more of a thriller - more about a man than an issue. Hence the title. Densely plotted, it’s a thinking person’s movie. No high jinks, just an intelligent script, a slow-burning, tightly-screwed plot and lots of very good acting from Clooney and Brits Tilda Swinton and Tom Wilkinson.
Clooney loves the conspiracy films of the 60s and 70s and maybe the presence in this of Sidney (Three Days of the Condor) Pollack is no coincidence. And Michael Clayton certainly has the grainy, workaday grittiness of the early 70s films like All the President’s Men – when films were born mature.
Coming on the heels of David Fincher’s seventies-set Zodiac and the present day spy-game Breach, Michael Clayton certainly feels part of a resurgent trend for intelligently-pitched character-driven stories that tap into the angsty zeitgeist of political unease.
Shot in a real-life law firm, Michael Clayton is beautifully filmed by Clooney cameraman Robert Elswit. As bleached as Good Night and Good Luck, Michael Clayton has a chilly, oppressive feel that matches the pent-up paranoia that may just be the death of Clooney’s fixer.
Directed by first-timer Tony Gilroy (writer of the zippier Bourne trilogy), Michael Clayton is a slightly dull but ultimately satisfying thriller that demands as much as it rewards. But – appropriately enough for a film about a class action – it’s a very class act.
Clayton’s a mess, hates his job and wants out. But when the in-house lawyer of an agro-chemical client veers off-message, Clayton’s brought in stave off an expensive class-action. But coming face-to-face with company corruption only shows Clayton what he’s become. And he’s going to need all his washed-out nerve to save himself from a rising tide of extremely murky waters.
In Michael Clayton, George Clooney continues his penchant for issues-based movies. Good Night and Good Luck dealt with one man’s stand against political witch-hunts. Syriana mired itself in the oily world of petrochemical politics and international terrorism. And in Michael Clayton the focus is corporate duplicity.
But unlike the others, Michael Clayton is more of a thriller - more about a man than an issue. Hence the title. Densely plotted, it’s a thinking person’s movie. No high jinks, just an intelligent script, a slow-burning, tightly-screwed plot and lots of very good acting from Clooney and Brits Tilda Swinton and Tom Wilkinson.
Clooney loves the conspiracy films of the 60s and 70s and maybe the presence in this of Sidney (Three Days of the Condor) Pollack is no coincidence. And Michael Clayton certainly has the grainy, workaday grittiness of the early 70s films like All the President’s Men – when films were born mature.
Coming on the heels of David Fincher’s seventies-set Zodiac and the present day spy-game Breach, Michael Clayton certainly feels part of a resurgent trend for intelligently-pitched character-driven stories that tap into the angsty zeitgeist of political unease.
Shot in a real-life law firm, Michael Clayton is beautifully filmed by Clooney cameraman Robert Elswit. As bleached as Good Night and Good Luck, Michael Clayton has a chilly, oppressive feel that matches the pent-up paranoia that may just be the death of Clooney’s fixer.
Directed by first-timer Tony Gilroy (writer of the zippier Bourne trilogy), Michael Clayton is a slightly dull but ultimately satisfying thriller that demands as much as it rewards. But – appropriately enough for a film about a class action – it’s a very class act.