Michael Clayton (2007)

Directed By: Tony Gilroy
Starring: George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Sydney Pollack, Tom Wilkinson, Michael O’Keefe, Austin Williams

George Clooney is a curious fellow these days. Not content with his Ocean’s Eleven smoothest man alive persona he wants people to see how serious minded he can be, and his film roles evoke this more than anything else. Following Good Night & Good Luck, his superb 50’s set drama and the political Syriana, he is again tackling a political issue. This time is corporate greed at the expense of your average American. In fact this film is very similar to Soderbergh’s Erin Brockovich in terms of the corporate giant crushing the little people to get what they want.
The film opens with a short scene which ends rather unexpectedly, before bouncing back four days to explain what led us there. Clooney plays Michael Clayton, a janitor who works for a law firm, cleaning up messes which might cost their clients a lot of money or unnecessary media attention. He’s joined by Sydney Pollack, doing what he seems to always do, Tilda Swinton, as good as ever, but not really stretched and Tom Wilkinson, relishing playing a character that’s gone off the boil.
Clayton is brought in to cool down the simmering Wilkinson who has potentially thrown away a large lawsuit against corporate behemoth UNorth, for whom Swinton’s Karen Crowder is an executive.
Clooney is, as you’d expect, superb in this film and its fits in nicely with his growing politically minded dramas which are highlighting his great depth as an actor. Here is shows subtle signs of a man on the edge as he tries to raise a son, pay off a failed business venture and avoid falling into the gambling trap again, whilst also trying to get Arthur (Wilkinson) out of the trouble he’s found himself in. Unfortunately things are just getting more and more confused and Clayton, the great “fixer seems unable to control the variables.
Swinton’s character Karen is brilliantly realised with little screen time, as we see her preparing for speeches intercut with the actual speeches being made. It’s a highly original and effective technique employed by Gilroy and Swinton has just the right level of corporate ruthlessness and in over her head anxiety right up until the final surprising conclusion. As Karen gets in too deep, trying to resolve issues to prove her worth and protect those above, she slowly loses control, and Swinton reveals a character bereft of ideas and petrified of failing.
Tom Wilkinson stands out, enjoying the chance to play a character on the wrong side of sanity, a case lasting 8 years finally breaking him rather than the other way round. As Clayton investigates Arthur further though we begin to realise that his maniacal outbursts may be founded in some truth. This rocks Clayton who is a close friend with Arthur.
As the plot develops, never getting too convoluted or dragged down with exposition, it maintains its air of mystery right up until the end. It credit to director Gilroy, screenwriter on all three Bourne movies, here making his directorial debut, that he is able to keep his cards close to chest and come the final act, prove he’s not been bluffing all along.
This is a brilliant taut drama from a director who looks like his has a great future ahead of him. Clooney meanwhile proves why he is America’s most politically active and greatest actor carrying this film through to the finale with such commitment that you can’t help but be impressed by the resolution. As the flashback tidies up the questions posed earlier, revealing a little more depth to the story by being framed this way, the conclusion has a satisfying climax to it, with a simple and elegant scene between Clooney and Swinton.