In This Firm, He's Truly The Advocate's Devil
PopcornReel.com Movie Review: "Michael Clayton"
By Omar P.L. Moore/October 5, 2007
Fixing ethical conundrums when life collides with corruption: George Clooney as
the title lawyer character in "Michael Clayton", Tony Gilroy's impressive
feature film debut, which opened in numerous U.S. and Canadian cities today.
(Photo courtesy: Warner Brothers Pictures)
Tony Gilroy, who wrote "The Devil's Advocate", a film released
ten years ago, occupies the director's chair for the first time to craft the
exciting legal thriller "Michael Clayton", which showcases George Clooney's fine
work in the title role and a possible Oscar-nominated performance for Tom
Wilkinson. The film opened today in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles
and Toronto among other North American cities (see bottom of this review) and
expands on October 12.
The firm of Kenner, Bach and Ledeen in New York City has its star attorney
Arthur Edens (Wilkinson), a brilliant legal mind blemished and blighted by
mental illness, taking the defense of UNorth, a mega-giant agrochemical company
which has been embroiled in a multi-billion dollar class action lawsuit.
Kenner's legal fixer-upper is Clayton (Clooney) and he is Mr. Clean -- fixes the
tangled messes of the rich, famous and politically inconvenient, and has been
summoned to take on Mr. Edens's inner turmoil, which is fast becoming a crisis
for client UNorth. In addition, Mr. Clayton has his own personal demons to
fight, and it becomes increasingly difficult for him to escape them --
especially when UNorth's in-house counsel Karen Crowder (the always excellent
Tilda Swinton) has a lucrative future riding on a settlement of the suit against
the company. Can you say conflicts-of-interest?
"Michael Clayton" is cool, stark and always engaging, and Mr. Gilroy doesn't
ever get carried away with either the film's look (cinematography by Robert
Elswit), which is appealing, or the megastar acting wattage of the film's three
principal players. The director's film reminds one a slight little bit of
"The Firm", which was directed by Sydney Pollack in 1993, based on John
Grisham's best-selling book. Mr. Pollack (one of the "Clayton" producers)
himself seems to certify this celluloid echo with his presence in Mr. Gilroy's
film as Marty Bach, Kenner's lead partner, and he adds weight and conviction to
a film that could have been glossy and empty. Thankfully, "Michael
Clayton" is far smarter and more interesting than "The Firm" was, and
significantly shorter in length, in no small part because of John Gilroy's
editing.
John is the brother of Tony, whose screenplay for "Michael Clayton" is strong,
although the subplot involving Clayton and his family matters isn't always the
smoothest ride. Apart from this one wrinkle, the film is compelling
viewing and consistently intelligent, with its few laughs generated by Mr.
Wilkinson's excitable disposition. He isn't campy as Edens, but he rides
his riveting performance to the very edges of that terrain. George Clooney
does great work here, and the closing credits show him in an unbroken shot.
His facial expressions are so good in this moment. You can read his mind
all over his face, yet Mr. Clooney (who also executive produced the film) does
it all so subtly. There's a moment like this in the 2002 film
"Unfaithful", when Diane Lane's adulterous character is sitting in a train
basking in an awkward afterglow -- the difference is that in that film Adrian
Lyne opts for editing to break up the shots of Ms. Lane's strong acting --
relying on secondary images to amplify the moment. Here, Mr. Clooney's
moment is unbroken and even more subtle -- and all the more exquisite.
James Newton Howard, whose music scores in motion pictures are rarely bad,
continues to shine with the movie music that he composed for "Michael Clayton".
Mr. Howard's score adds tension and suspense (just as Mr. Howard's work in
"Collateral" did three years ago.) "Michael Clayton" plays strongest
between the shadows of legal ethics and the other side of honesty, and one or
two of its characters do end runs around situations they come up against, and as
they do, the film itself skillfully follows suit. Legal dramas on the big
screen can be a tricky proposition -- often such genres have to wrestle with
credibility: should there be a lot of legal talk to rope in (or bore) an
audience, perhaps, or should there be the gloss and glitz that attends films
like "A Few Good Men" and television series like "The Practice" or "L.A. Law" to
keep them interested? Mr. Gilroy never appears to entertain either
question, for his film chooses neither option. "Michael Clayton" just
is, and that's all that counts.
"Michael Clayton" is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for
language including some sexual dialogue. The film opened today in New
York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Miami,
Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, D.C., Dallas, and Vancouver. The film's
duration is one hour and 59 minutes. "Michael Clayton" was produced by Mr.
Pollack, Jennifer Fox, Kerry Orent and Steve Samuels, with Mr. Clooney, Steven
Soderbergh, Anthony Minghella and James A. Holt as executive producers.
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