Michael Clayton

By Sean “Shiva The God of Death” Donovan

Michael Clayton
Directed and Written by Tony Gilroy
Starring George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, and Sydney Pollack
Grade- A

Remember the days where films were better? Where one didn’t have to look to exclusively the independent market to find films that weren’t based around CGI animation, sex, torture, or films that were made before? I don’t, since I was born in 1992, and only really started being an active film nerd since 7th grade. This film, however, is very refreshing. It’s not really an action film, as no one jumps from skyscraper to skyscraper (I consider this as being one of the main criteria in terming a film as an “action film”), but it’s also not a horror, sex comedy, or an animated family annoyance. What? You mean there are genres of film that exist beyond those four kingdoms? Oh yes, reader, there are. Michael Clayton is refreshing because it is so well made, yet doesn’t try to be revolutionary. It’s just a really great film.
George Clooney plays the titular character, a corporate “fixer” (there’s really no other term to describe his job), whose duties consist mainly of hiding corporate scandals and making them disappear. From this moment forward, even though I probably won’t mention his job again in this review, I’ll call that a “Corporate Magician.” Someone might ask, “Hey, Shiva the God of Death, what would you call Michael Clayton’s job?” or, “Hey, what’s Jodie Foster’s character’s occupation in Inside Man?” To both I’ll reply that their title is corporate magician.
A company called U/North is sued for having dangerous ingredients in their products. One day, Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson), their attorney who works for the same firm as Michael and is a manic-depressive, strips down naked in a deposition room. Michael is called in to handle him for the company, but it soon becomes clear that Arthur’s gone round the bend because of guilt for defending the evil company for so many years. Also monitoring Arthur and his case is Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton), a representative for the company. The case goes up and down throughout the movie, and Michael goes through a crisis: What has he accomplished by defending and cleaning up the messes of these companies all these years?
I’ve never watched the films writer/director Tony Gilroy has written before this one (the Bourne films; they’re supposedly very good but I’ve never seen one), but he’s made an impressive directorial debut with Michael Clayton. Not a single frame is un-needed in character or plot development. His script is brilliantly complex, with some of the best dialogue this year (although Juno’s is better, but who could beat that?). He also draws exquisite performances from everyone in the cast.
George Clooney is believable in his soul-changing journey in the film, but there are two other performances I prefer to his. One is Tom Wilkinson’s turn as Edens. He spends most of the film ranting angrily, and it’s a joy to watch, but in one scene he displays the infinite knowledge of law he has. The look on Wilkinson’s face adds depth to his character, we suddenly see a very intelligent man lost in a pit of corruption and guilt.
It’s silly to talk about depth in acting in Michael Clayton without mentioning Tilda Swinton’s awe-inspiring performance as Karen Crowder. Her role could be viewed as almost cardboard-like on paper. She’s a cold-hearted villain who has no conscience and is very upwardly mobile in her company. Swinton turns Karen into so much more. She anxiously prepares before each speech she gives, with a seemingly endless canyon of unhinged neurosis and nervousness. She does some awful, unthinkable things in this film, but we see the effects of each one painfully implanted on Karen’s face. She, along with Javier Bardem in this year’s No Country For Old Men, have given two of the best antagonist performances ever.