
Michael Clayton
Review by Zachary K. Parker
In Tony
Gilroy’s “Michael Clayton,” the title character performs the duties of a
“fixer” or “janitor” for the law firm, Kenner,
Boch, and Ledeen. He’s constantly called in to clean up an extensive array of
situations, ranging from upper class hit-and-run drivers to the newly
embarrassing behavior of his firm’s senior partner, Arthur Edens (a frazzled
and harried Tom Wilkinson).
Edens
has been heading up a case defending the corporation, U/North, against a lawsuit
involving the harmful effects of their agricultural products. The film opens
with a montage of sundry shots showing a corporate office with a sinister
voiceover by Edens, describing his
epiphany amidst the chaos in the middle of a street.
In trying
to cover up the hidden facts of the U/North case, he realizes that he works for
a law firm that makes it possible “…for other, larger, more powerful organisms
to destroy the miracle of humanity.”
Disguised as a “Summons to
Conquest,” Edens plans to publish a
certain document, hopefully stopping U/North. U/North, now headed up by the
aggressive yet naive Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton), demands that the law firm
handle Edens or else they will sue
for legal malpractice, essentially extinguishing the firm.
Thus the
powers that be call the morally wooly “miracle worker,” Michael Clayton, played
by George Clooney, to handle Edens.
Clooney comfortably fills the shoes of a man wise in the machinations of the
world, but with less zeal than his Bob Barnes of “Syriana,” making Clayton a
juxtaposition of moral intelligence and exhaustion.
In fact,
it’s easy to imagine Clayton’s drowsy figure to collapse at any point in the
film, but as he uncovers more niceties about the problems at U/North and the hostility
towards Eden, he’s propelled on a reluctant
search for truth.
Truth
figures prominently at the center of a lot of “lawyer” movies, but what makes
“Michael Clayton” stand out is in Gilroy’s realistic depiction of lawyers and
his handling of a morality tale without unlikely plot twists or schmaltz.
Unlike Gilroy’s
earlier lawyer film (“The Devil’s Advocate”), “Michael Clayton” avoids
stereotypes at all costs, making even the smallest supporting characters believable.
In this way, Tilda Swinton’s convincing and even sympathetic performance makes
her Academy Award win wholly justified.
Gilroy’s
record includes the exhilarating and morally conscious “Bourne” trilogy, and he
makes his directorial debut with “Michael Clayton.” It’s impressive to see a
filmmaker who can effortlessly craft such a tightly written script about the
conflict between profit and integrity.
It’s extraordinary to see how he
then takes that screenplay and makes it into an atmospheric experience with a
camera that makes the dark shadows in offices, hotels, and living rooms almost
an integral part of each character so that they’re exploring or hiding in an
extension of themselves.
Each character grapples with the
chaos of the world as it relates to man’s apathy or self-interest, and Edens
knows “there’s a reason” for all the film’s happenings, and Michael must decide
whether or not to continue in Edens’
footsteps. In the end, Clayton undergoes a Christ-like death and resurrection,
which allows him to fix an end to his situation’s problems.
There are many reasons to check out
“Michael Clayton,” and it’s such a quiet film that it might slip by, but once
you see it, it quietly slips into your mind many times after viewing, and in
the final shot leaves you an open seat in the taxi besides the character to heed
the “summons to conquest” of humanity’s moral imbalance.