A good legal thriller!

10/3/07

Michael Clayton
Written and directed by Tony Gilroy

George Clooney plays the title character in Michael Clayton, a legal thriller written and directed by Tony Gilroy. Gilroy has been around for a while as a screenwriter, responsible at least in part for all of the Bourne movies, but this is his directorial debut. The result is definitely not cookie-cutter Hollywood product. Clooney takes on a serious role, as a fixer in a large corporate law firm, a child of the working class, valued as a cleaner-up of messes for clients and fellow attorneys...but not enough to make partner. His marriage and an attempt to open a bar have failed, and life is not looking all that great to him when he gets the call to tidy up another potential disaster. The structure is not strictly linear, but not so convoluted as to be confusing. Just don't get there late. And pay attention.

Michael Clayton has some excellent performances, by Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Sidney Pollack, and others. Gilroy the screenwriter gave his actors interesting characters to play and good dialog, and Gilroy the director let the actors do their thing. See it!

Video notes:

We all know by now that George Clooney is not just another pretty face. Not that there's anything wrong with a pretty face. TVOR particularly likes his more serious work in Good Night, and Good Luck, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (both of which he also directed), Syriana, O Brother Where Art Thou?, and Three Kings.