Clooney better than ever in 'Michael Clayton'
"Michael Clayton" is a smart, understated character study of a man in crisis. He's deep in debt, his family life has unraveled, his career is on the line and somebody just blew up his leased, top-of-the-line Mercedes.
We've seen this story before in various incarnations: A weary protagonist struggles to survive a world of corruption and disappointment while maintaining some shred of personal integrity.
Here, Tony Gilroy, directing from his own script, gives us not only one of the year's best-made motion pictures, but George Clooney's personal dramatic best as an attorney so good at being a low-level fixer, his firm can't afford to promote him up the ranks.
Clooney plays Clayton, who early on tips us off that even though he has a reputation as a miracle worker for the high-powered New York law firm Kenner, Bach and Ledeen, he's really just a janitor cleaning up his clients' legal messes.
Things really hit the fan when the firm's top legal gun, Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson), snaps under pressure after working a multibillion-dollar lawsuit for eight years. Edens says it's wrong to defend the U/North corporation that has poisoned people with its products. He starts helping the other side in a class-action lawsuit filed against U/North.
The law firm's head, Marty Bach (veteran director Sydney Pollack), goes quietly ballistic. Edens' meltdown comes at a crucial time when Bach is negotiating the merger of his firm with a British company. He dispatches the level-headed Clayton to take care of Edens before something bad occurs.
Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) doesn't take any chances. As the new, insanely ambitious head of U/North's corporate counsel, Karen hires two black-swaddled GQ hit men (the movie's single glaring Hollywood cliché) to be sure Edens goes away.
Meanwhile, Clayton tries to reason with his old friend Edens while paying back a $75,000 debt incurred from opening a doomed tavern with his druggie little brother.
Clayton also squeezes in time as a single dad for his son and struggles with having his other brother be a cop.
In print, all this makes "Michael Clayton" sound like an elevated soap opera. It's much more of a throwback to the socially aware films of 30 years ago when characters came to grips with their true selves while being forced to make crushing ethical decisions. ("Serpico" and "The China Syndrome" come to mind.)
Gilroy, who wrote all three of the Jason Bourne action fests, demonstrates he's in full control of "Michael Clayton," fueling every scene with urgency and quiet tension. He crowns his arresting directorial debut with a classic confrontation that bleeds with wit and surprise.
When the lighting and camera angles are just right, Clooney resembles a depressed Cary Grant carrying the world on his broad, impeccably tailored shoulders.
Clooney is at his best during poignant, wordless scenes where the camera dwells on his sad, weathered face, and we know exactly how he feels. That is, until a magnificent final shot where Clooney projects the cool, perfectly ambivalent expression of an uncertain hero.
"Michael Clayton"
Three stars out of four
Opens today
Starring As
George Clooney as Michael Clayton
Tom Wilkinson as Arthur Edens
Tilda Swinton as Karen Crowder
Sydney Pollack as Marty Bach
Written and directed by Tony Gilroy. Produced by Sydney Pollack, Steven Samuels, Jennifer Fox and Kerry Orent. A Warner Bros. release. Rated R (language). Running time: 119 minutes.