Michael. Dear Michael. Review on Michael Clayton Movie

Michael Clayton the directorial debut of Tony Gilroy

is not your typical legal thriller, it falls more in the visceral thriller

movies like “Network” and “Constant Gardener”. The film manages to grab our

attention immediately and without the normal recipe for a thriller movie.

Michael Clayton isn't a revelatory film, but it is a smart one that deals in

the grey world that we all live in, not the black and white one legal film are

usually about.

The movie starts off with a fantastic monologue from Tom Wilkinson, some

unexplained shots of characters in a degree of stress and an explosion to cap

it all off, your attention is gripped. Michael Clayton(George Clooney), a

"fixer" at a major Manhattan

law firm. His job profile is that of cleaning up other's messes, not litigating

in a court room, He calls himself a “Janitor”. Things are not looking good for

him right now: his addict brother has run a business venture that Michael was

a partner in into the ground, leaving Michael with thousands of dollars in

debt; his relationship with his ex-wife is on the rocks, He hates the work, but

the senior partner at the firm, Marty Bach(Sydney Pollack), wants him to stay

and  assigns Michael to restrain Arthur

Edens(Tom Wilkinson), who is a lead attorney for a major case for the firm

involving U/North, a huge, multifaceted corporation, has discovered startling evidence

and  begins plotting to publicly expose

U/North, something that U/North's lead corporate attorney, Karen Crowder(Tilda

Swinton) cannot allow and  begins looking

at far more dangerous methods of containment. This is all I can say without

spoiling the movie.

Michael Clayton is a thriller that works

at a slower pace, but still manages to enthrall with its developments. Critical

to the film's success is its performances. George Clooney gives us a Michael

who feels many aspects of his world closing around him and tries to keep all

the balls in the air. Finally, Tilda Swinton's Karen Crowder is a woman who is

all about appearance and ensuring that no one rocks the boat of U/North. She

has sold her soul to the devil and will do anything to keep the company intact.

For me, the one actor in this movie who comes close to a scene-stealing

performance is Tom Wilkinson, who does a fantastic job at delivering Gilroy's sharply-written

and very particular dialogue while portraying his character's bi-polar

disorder. He has been nominated for best supporting actor [Deservingly, though

its looks unlikely for anyone but Javier Bardem to win that one].

Michael Clayton is certainly not everyone's cup of tea. It requires a strong

attention span and does not spoon-feed the audience. If you can handle that,

then it is a film experience that will provide some rewards