You have no idea how badly I wanted to like Michael Clayton. It wasn't just the star power of George Clooney, the glowing reviews, and all the buzz it garnered around Awards time. I wanted to like it because I felt the need to connect again with The Vast Majority, both critics and viewers, who in this case walked around saying this movie was a grand if somber experience.
That didn't happen for me. If I'm going to be brutally honest I felt it was a predictable, slow, and almost boring film.
Michael Clayton is a 'fixer', an attorney sent out to bury the proverbial bodies and grease the wheels for his law firm. When an old friend goes off his mental illness medication and threatens their work on a multi-billion dollar lawsuit, the firm sends Clayton in to clean up the mess. But lurking in the background is another, more sinister attempt to 'fix' the problem.
As always Clooney shines, and my respect for him continues to grow. Tilda Swinton was wasted in a thankless role as the new chief counsel, but Tom Wilkinson stands out as the mentally ill but morally right lawyer at the center of the mess.
The film itself takes it's time to move anywhere, intentionally so I think, and that would be fine if in the end it delivered an impressive plot or used the time to develop rich, complex characters who changed along the way.
[I don't believe this next bit needs a 'SPOILER' warning, as it's glaringly obvious and even mentioned throughout the film, but there it is]
Instead we're treated to a plot stolen from Erin Brockovich, with a little bit of The Bourne Identity thrown in for originality. As for the characters, they don't change, not to any degree that matters. The mentally ill lawyer is mentally ill when his character's role begins and when it ends. The chief counsel may be troubled by her actions and in over her head, but she charges straight ahead throughout the movie. Even Clayton remains fundamentally unchanged. What he does in the end is not a result of a metamorphosis but as a simple reflexive response to his life being put in danger. If there are deeper, more life changing rationales behind it, then it should have spelled out with more than a brief hint now and again.
I turned off the DVD disappointed, and I'm more than a little saddened by that fact.
3 comments:
I really want to see this one so I'm not reading this.....
tonight...Juno. and if I have time (and enough coffee) this one afterwards.
now...I need to clean up the clooney drool ;)
Y'all have a great weekend!~
~Bernadette
Sorry that you were disappointed. I did think the special effects were good. And you are right about it being slow moving, but my husband stayed awake through the whole thing (despite no GGB). Of course, Clooney is always watchable. In the normal course of the summer I would have rated this movie even higher than 3* if it hadn't been for *American Gangster* (story, acting) *I Am Legend* (much better than the original) and *The Kingdom* (better special effects, tighter editing).
I love, love George Clooney but I have to admit, I fast forwarded through a lot of this film. As you said, it was predictable and slow moving. Sorry George.
Joyce
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