Michael Clayton - Review

Director: Tony Gilroy
Writer: Tony Gilroy
Starring: George Clooney/Tom Wilkinson
Runtime: 2 hours

Michael Clayton is well titled. It is not so much a legal thriller, as it is a study of the lead character. Screenwriting guru Robert McKee would bawl me out for that last statement, because according to McKee, all films should be character studies.

McKee has a point, but Michael Clayton is a film that shuns convention. I was waiting for it to become a thriller of the John Grisham variety, and it never did. You know the type: lawyer stumbles upon wrongdoing in his own firm, realizes he's a moral person, sets out to find justice, and almost gets killed for his trouble.

Michael Clayton has those bits, but it's missing the tempo of a regular legal thriller. That doesn't mean it's a poor film. On the contrary, it was nice not to have a chase scene wrap the whole thing up. The editor (director Gilroy's younger brother) wasn't allowed to cut the scenes down to thirty seconds, then twenty, then ten, then two, all in the slight-of-hand of modern filmmaking.

The title is apt because we stay with Michael Clayton throughout the film, and he seems like a real man doing real things. He's only missing from perhaps three minutes of screentime. The rest of the film is the study of a man that may or may not like himself, or his job, or his life. In the end, we never really know the answers to these questions, because neither does Michael Clayton. And I love that.

George Clooney is utterly perfect in the lead role. He doesn't overdo it, and neither do the filmmakers. His haircut is just a haircut, his suits are just suits. He drives a fancy car, but he doesn't own it. He makes a lot of money as a Mr. Fix It of a law firm, but he's in dire straits because of a bar business that's gone belly up. Though he seems powerful, his office is down the hall and he is not in "the club." He is not a partner. He's the permanent outsider, the loyal dog that earns his room and board by keeping the masters clean.

Clayton is the attorney that the firm sends to mop up a mess. Rich guy needs help in a drunk driving wreck, but wants to dodge the publicity? Call Clayton. Senator with his hand in the cookie jar? Call Clayton. At one point in the film, a character calls Michael Clayton a "janitor." Rather than laughing it off or taking offence, Clayton internalizes it. He knows it is the truth. Later, when a man says that he's heard Clayton is a miracle worker, Clayton replies, "I'm a janitor," without a hint of irony. Does he like being a janitor? Perhaps not, but that's life.

The plot of the film feels incidental to the man. In the film, Clayton has to bail out one of the firm's partners, Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson). Edens has gone off the deep end and is acting like a lunatic. Seeing as he's the lead attorney in charge of a massive lawsuit, the firm needs him under control. They send Clayton to straighten the man out. Behind the scenes, however, another of the firm's partners (Tilda Swinton) decides to take matters into her own hands, with deadly results.

That's a fair plot. It's been used before and it will be used again, but I didn't mind. Watching Clayton believably pick through his spiralling life was good enough for me.

It was fairly obvious that this was directed by a writer, in this case Tony Gilroy. Clayton is his directorial debut. This might surprise you, since Gilroy's list of writing projects in the past includes Armageddon, Proof of Life, and all three of the Bourne movies.

Gilroy with Clooney
What a change of pace. Gilroy is a fantastic action writer, so perhaps he didn't trust anyone to do one of his dramas, lest they think, "Ah, a Gilroy script. The Bourne guy, right?" Handing Michael Clayton to someone else probably would have resulted in a net total of five car chases, ten shootings, and a bad guy that tells Clayton, "You're such a boyscout." This is important to remember if you're a fan of Tony Gilroy the writer and think you're going to get the Bourne treatment. You're not, so don't complain if you see this movie and wonder where all the action went.

Instead, Clayton has very believable characters doing the most believable thing: being selfish. No one in the film is outright evil for evil's sake. Swinton's character is worried about making it big in the legal world. She does what she feels she must. She's not proud of it. In fact, she's terrified of the consequences. But she does it anyway. Watch her scenes where she examines her wardrobe in the mirror, rehearsing her lines for the next day's presentations. In front of the mirror, she's a nervous wreck, desperately fighting to achieve flawless diction. The next day, she's on the ball. Or is she? They're excellent scenes.

Sidney Pollack takes another turn as actor in this film. I wonder how Gilroy felt, having the Oscar winning director on the set during his own directorial debut? There's probably some good stories there. In any case, Pollack does a fine job, and as always I found myself wondering why he doesn't do more acting.

Tom Wilkinson is good as Arthur Edens, the lawyer that goes off the rails. He's a little bit over the top, but then again his character is a manic-depressive, so it's hard to argue the point.

Michael Clayton is a very satisfying film made a by a good writer-turned-director, and it stars an excellent cast. See it.

Photos: Yahoo Movies