"Michael Clayton" Movie Review

If you’re thinking about seeing Michael Clayton at the Saratoga Film Forum, I can’t in good conscious endorse such a decision. Unlike almost every other critic that reviewed Michael Clayton, I was not blown away by the film. I’m not sure what that says about my reviewing abilities, but I’m not going to let it faze me.

There’s no way around the fact that the film from writer and director Tony Gilroy falls short at almost every turn. The most glaring of these failures occurs with the most interesting character, Karen Crowder, played by Tilda Swinton.

Swinton is a talented actress, and delivers a chilling performance as a corporate attorney who will do anything to bring home a victory. The problem is that the audience never gets a chance to understand where this desire to win comes from. One can understand a certain amount of pressure when dealing with dollar amounts in the billions, but the film doesn’t explain her stake in the big picture and why she would be willing to have two people killed.

At just under two hours, this movie spends too much time watching people react, and the worst offender being a taxi ride with Clooney to end the film. Scenes like that exhibit the disconnect between the audience and the story teller, who assumes that viewers have some sort of unspoken bond with what’s happening on the screen. Why should I, a college student, appreciate what’s happening to some high-priced lawyer without a little bit of explanation?

The movie also fails to deliver much of an ending. The climax is played out in the beginning of the film in a flashback, and one would hope that when the film comes back to that part in real time the audience would be left with some added insight or see the pieces in a different way. Instead the climax only raises more questions that are off topic, and are never answered anyway.

The title character, Michael Clayton, played by George Clooney, is underdeveloped as well. From the beginning you can see that Clayton is a conflicted character, constantly solving problems for people who don’t really deserve help. The problem is that the character never really seems to undergo any transformation. He seems to know right and wrong from the beginning, and he’s clearly a man with established borders. So if this is the case, why should the ending or his consequent actions surprise anyone?

Sydney Pollack is mildly entertaining as a senior partner in Clayton’s firm, and the two corporate killers are terrifying. Tom Wilkinson will probably receive a supporting actor nomination for his portrayal of Arthur Edens, a corporate lawyer who sees the error of his way and loses his mind. Wilkinson is entertaining, and the movie benefits from every second he is on screen.

The movie isn’t a thriller. It is pretty ho hum, with the most chilling moment coming when a cop yells, “Freeze.” But it’s just a tease, because like most of the movie nothing is really happening. The movie is basically a tragedy, because it squanders such a promising cast.

If you’re going to watch a movie about a lawyer with a moral crisis, rent the 1998 film, A Civil Action, starring John Travolta. Travolta’s performance is a tier above an uninspired showing from Clooney.