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| Michael Clayton | 
| Category: Movie
This item is no longer available
Avg. Customer Rating:  215 reviews
Sales Rank: 11355
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: Video On Demand
Running Time: 120 minutes
ASIN: B00149KENO
Theatrical Release Date: October 12, 2007
Release Date: October 20, 2008
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| Customer Reviews:
 NOMINATED FOR BEST PICTURE AND DESERVEDLY SO ! January 22, 2008
8 out of 12 found this review helpful
For the first half hour of this picture I spent my time trying to understand just what was going on and fighting off falling sleep, good thing I succeeded as Michael Clayton turned out to be one of the best pictures of 2007. It reminded me a little bit of "The Firm" which I've watched a bunch of times. George Clooney is in his best role ever and things turn out to be very different than they appeared early in the movie. Highly recommended.
Great Legal Thriller.....except for the last 15 minutes. January 22, 2008
If I were writing this review after 1 hour and 45 minutes, it would have received 5 stars. Unfortunately, the last 15 minutes were too predictable and seemed designed to please film-goers who want their movies neatly packaged together in the end. Prior to the last 15 minutes, this movie was a thrill ride. I won't dive into the plot, since that is probably better outlined in other reviews.
George Clooney certainly does nothing to disappoint and is at the peak of his game. He definitely looks the part of a high-priced NY lawyer, but his performance goes well beyond his appearance. Tom Wilkinson is exceptional as the senior litigator in the firm whose discovery of key evidence implicating his client brings his mental illness to the fore. Wilkinson comes close to being over the top portraying the mentally unstable attorney, but manages to never cross the line. I also disagree with the negative comments about Tilda Swinton. Her performance as the conflicted General Counsel of the chemical company, U North, is more complex than others give her credit for and she does happen to deliver a stirring performance in the movie's climactic scenes.
Overall, "Michael Clayton" could have been a classic. It misses that by a hair or about 15 minutes.
Moral bankruptcy January 2, 2008
Legal thrillers/dramas are one of the genres more exploded in cinema. During decades, directors and screenwriters have presented -some with more success than others- stories about justice's ups and downs, stories about facts and circumstances that often become stiff machinations where the blind lady wins, others not so much. That's why when I went to see Michael Clayton, my hopes weren't too high, since I thought I would find the same worn formula: two lawyers, a villain, and the classic confrontation in a courtroom with a foreseeable and boring verdict.
How wrong I was.
And my First mistake was to tag Michael Clayton as a legal thriller. Yes, it's about lawyers; yes, it has lots of suspense, and yes, it's a drama, but it's so much than the meaning of all these words. All thanks to his director, Tony Gilroy, who has outsmarted all those movie cliches we've seen for 30 years. Instead of that, the director has weaved several subplots in a story that unfolds slowly but in a way that keeps us alert and interested, filling in the blanks, without losing emotion.
George Clooney is Michael Clayton. A man that works in the shadows, solving other peoples problems, without much glory. Clayton is the best fixer, but behind his apparent success lays a man troubled with debt, vice, a failed marriage, family issues and above all, tired of his lifestyle and a job that doesn't bring any satisfaction.
Clayton's life complicates when a colleague and friend, Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson), suffers a nervous breakdown that jeopardizes one of the firm's most important clients. Clayton is sent to control the situation, but he finds an Arthur decided to reveal the dirty laundry on their client.
Conscience is the main theme in Michael Clayton, since the characters expose the weariness produced by selling it to the highest bidder. However, the movie doesn't try to criticize the human behavior, but shows the situations and surprises given just by taken the right choice, and to see what others are capable of doing when you stop following their game.
All the actors are at the top of their game in Michael Clayton, not a single performance is wasted. Director Tony Gilroy presents his message in an no-nonsense way, and even though it appears he gives us a climatic finale of justice served, the last scene leaves us with an image of Michael Clayton that puts in our mouth a sweet and sour flavor, the very same we have when found ourselves winners in a war that's already lost.
The North American masterwork of the year! November 26, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Michael Clayton" has been until this date the finest American film that I have seen this year. Supported by a zealous and well made script, the film by itself is quite ambitious in its proposal, but still it gets to engage the most exigent viewer. Supported by a very delicate issue that deals with the destructive and irreversible consequences of a herbicide that generates collateral damages in the human body, all a series of cautious chess movements in order to avoid a major scandal far beyond we know as "fidelity of mark" that eventually led not only to a financial disaster, but besides an irreversible loss of market placement.
Of course the movie offers us other several secondary lines. Clayton is our legal antihero, a consummated gambler who belongs to the lawyer's office of this questioned company.
So as more we realize what 's bellow all this complex drama, we will witness one of the most memorable performances in years, an absolute tour de force acting by Tom Wilkinson. He literally steles the show although his character is secondary, but transcendentally decisive in the plot .
George Clooney gives us the finest role of his career, as this attorney who precisely doesn't represent the impolite side of the law. The rest of the cast is formidable too, with special kudos to Sidney Pollack and the ruthless female legal advisor (Tilda Swinton) .
Tom Gilroy emerges as one of the most promising talents of this demanding activity, and although it's too risky to make long term forecasts, I guess this must be the Best Movie the next year (Golden Globe and Academy award), Wilkinson must win as Best supporting Actor in both prizes, and George Clooney should be embracing the golden little statue.
Totally recommended, even for those people who use to go to the movie a half dozen times by year. Don't miss it!
Adjusted, indeed November 7, 2007
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I've never been particularly moved by George Clooney. I don't dislike him, I just never really noticed him. That said, his role in this film is well played. I thought the plot slipped in a place or two, although in the rearview it held together pretty well. The direction the story takes is not incredibly obvious, but the fear of the unidentified enemy is clearly honed from the opening scene. Along with that is the ambiguous nature of Clayton, himself. That said, Wilkinson stole this film. He was brilliant. His character was sympathetic despite his despicable deeds. The honesty driving this character's articulation of his shadows not only serves to reveal Clayton's, but the act of doing so engages the guilty ego of his audience. Very strong psychology at work in this film, and it conveys remarkably well.
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