Michael Clayton
Studio: Warner Bros.
Rated: R
Cast: George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson
Director: Tony Gilroy
WorkNameSort: Michael Clayton
Its hero is an amoral “fixer” for a major law firm whose personal life is in shambles. Its whistle-blowing voice of reason is a loony loose cannon who strips naked during depositions. Its representation of corporate evil is an insecure, guilt-drenched company woman who sweats from her armpits just like the rest of us. That nothing is what it seems in Michael Clayton is only the beginning of this ingenious thriller’s mesmerizing narrative, and also its end: We never know what’s coming next, from the fragmented audio-visual juxtapositions in the prologue to the breathless conclusion. George Clooney’s slick antihero, Tom Wilkinson’s seemingly a deranged lawyer and Tilda Swinton’s big-business mouthpiece are written with rich, textured detail and cocooned in a dense story of unblinking white-collar greed whose plausibility should come as no surprise to anyone who’ seen The Corporation. First-time director Tony Gilroy brings the intelligence of his Bourne scripts to a new level of insider sophistication and proves he has a terrific camera eye to boot. As important as it is entertaining, this 21st-century thriller has perhaps created the Howard Beale of today in Wilkinson’s Arthur Edens, while acknowledging that mad prophets these days are easier to get rid of.
This article appears in Oct 10-16, 2007.