Michael Clayton

MICHAEL CLAYTON
PATHE
RELEASED 28 September 2007
Award-winning performances in ‘Syriana’, ‘Good Night, and Good Luck’, and ‘Confessions of a Dangerous Mind’ have elevated George Clooney into a far more powerful Hollywood position while still supplying the Warner Bros. studio with blockbuster bucks via the Danny Ocean trilogy. Here he’s back on serious territory with ‘Michael Clayton’, the directorial debut of ‘Bourne’ trilogy writer Tony Gilroy.
The film starts with Michael Clayton (George Clooney), an in-house “fixer” at one of the largest corporate law firms in New York, trying to advise a client at his home in the dead of night what to do about the hit-and-run he’s just committed. Clayton remains calm throughout as the client boils over. Driving away later, Clayton stops near a field as the sun begins to rise and walks towards three horses. Something about this scene is pulling him towards it. Unexpectedly, his car explodes leaving a look of shock on Clayton’s face. We then move four days into the past, where an attorney of Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) is threatening to ruin a multi-million dollar settlement of a class action suit. Edens behaviour is erratic and old friend Clayton must ‘fix’ the situation. What follows is an involving and complicated tale of big business and what it will do to save it’s bacon, as well as a nice character study of Clayton’s world.
I should warn you, this is a very, very slow movie (something that is unusual in todays’ fast-paced editing film industry), but one that is very rewarding due to it’s intelligent script, faultless acting (especially Clooney in his best role yet), and rich direction, with director Gilroy proving he can direct just as well as he can write a compelling story. ‘Michael Clayton’ has the feel of a best-selling novel, due to the rich cast and clever plot. When we finally discover why Clayton’s car explodes, an extremely satisfying finale follows.
FOUR OUT OF FIVE