AML Movie Review: “Michael Clayton”
Michael Clayton: (A+) IMDB : ROTTENTOMATOES
The new guy on Ebert and Roper, I forget his name but he hosts a movie show on HDNet, said it best: Michael Clayton is what every John Grisham movie should have been like.
The Firm was good of course, but Michael Clayton is so better than any legal thriller I can remember watching. It stars George Clooney, but has some amazing performances by Sydney Pollack, Tom Wilkinson and Tilda Swinton.
I guess if you get Pollack, Clooney and Steven Soderbergh together, you’re going to get a great film. What a group.
Clooney shines in this as he does his other films. He’s such a good performer and he knows how to pick good movies. Michael Clayton needs to be watched carefully. It kind of starts off in pieces, where you are trying to figure what the heck is going on. The opening scenes with Clooney are particularly awesome. The cinematography is spectacular.
As the story unfolds, you find out there is a lawyer (Wilkinson) who is supposed to be defending a huge corporation from a class-action lawsuit. He’s a manic depressive, goes off his medication and loses it. Or was he really losing it? The results are a mad-scramble to stop what he might be doing.
Clooney is Michael Clayton, a janitor or cleaner if you will. He comes in to get problems fixed. He’s got his own problems though and you aren’t sure how much they have to do with the main story.
I really can’t say much about the plot other than that because it’s got some twists and turns and awesome moments that you just don’t want to give away. Needless to say, this was an amazing movie. It was subtle at times, tense, nail-biting and heart-pounding. The acting like I said was superb, even the very, very end when the credits are rolling. Stick around for a few minutes after they start…you’ll see a moment of great acting as Jina pointed out to me.
In terms of thrillers, I’d put this as the best of the year, perhaps topping Bourne Ultimatum because of the smarts it had, the writing and the plot. I even felt at times that it was as action-packed as Bourne, even if it was just done in looks and shots, instead of car chases and gun battles.
Check it out, come back and let me know what you thought.
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One more thing to note… in a few quiet scenes, the camera shots were incredibly satisfying. The way they would use color or balance to create a mood helped to intensify the storyline. Just a nice touch.
Good point Jina
This one looks good, glad to hear it’s worth seeing. Not sure we’ll get to see this one at the theater, but we’ll definitely add to the queue.
I couldn’t tell from the commercials/previews if this was a film I wanted to see or not. Thanks for the review - I’m convinced now that I need to at least rent it.
I’m saving my theater-going money this month for “30 Days of Night”. Love the comic book - can’t wait for the movie!
We finally got around to seeing this one last night. Well worth the wait. Clooney is great as always as was Swinton (I can see why she won the Oscar, the scene with her and Clooney at the end was an instant classic) and Pollack (anyone remember him in Eyes wide shut?).
Thumbs up for us!
Scotty Dub’s last blog post..How small is your home office?
Glad you liked it Scotty! Such a great film…
Oct 21st, 2007 at 7:43 pm
[...] one of the better films of the year, but it’s a step below what Michael Clayton was. I read somewhere that Ben relied a bit too much on shots of the “neighborhood” [...]
Jan 19th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
[...] can read my review on this movie from back in October for a full scoop on what it’s about and why it was so [...]
Jan 22nd, 2008 at 11:54 am
[...] finally, Michael Clayton being up for Best Picture hopefully gets some people to go see it again once it hits theaters in a [...]
Feb 19th, 2008 at 6:17 am
[...] Clooney knows how to pick ‘em, and Michael Clayton was no different. Aside from Syriana, this is probably my favorite Clooney movie ever. He stars as [...]
Feb 22nd, 2008 at 1:04 pm
[...] in point, Michael Clayton was just released on DVD and Blu-Ray this past Tuesday and it’s already on Direct TV [...]