Michael Clayton

[Josh]

This is what Joe Henry says about his new album Civilians-- part warning, part disclaimer, part ominous prophecy: "Loose lips, desperation and convenient morality might make for tense dinner conversation, but put them in waltz time and even the young people lay down their assault rifles and start crowding up next to the stage."

The same themes-- and the same artistic sensibility-- inform Michael Clayton; only the medium is different, with this particular exercise in moral inquiry and provocation manifesting itself in the form of a smart, talky thriller rather than a set of blues and folk songs. Nuanced, deliberate, and character-driven, Clayton is a slow-burner that takes its time and makes you pay attention-- forget bathroom breaks-- but the work you have to put into it is payed back many times over.

Falling somewhere between a Michael Mann film (without any gunfights), morality pieces like Network and A Civil Action, and perhaps a hint of Syriana (mostly because of an eerily similar opening scene), Clayton is, in many regards, a showcase for George Clooney, who drops his usual magnetic charm here for exposed nerves and desperation as he plays a law firm's top fixer-- not a miracle-worker, as he puts it, but a janitor-- who's trade has placed his soul in mortal jeopardy. He's dying from the inside out, but when a client (Tom Wilkinson) has a sudden moral turn-around, Clayton has one too-- and Clooney's craft here is soulful and devastating in its subtlety.

Credit also goes to first-time director Tony Gilroy, who has made an artful and sophisticated character study in which every line of dialogue seems loaded with ethical implications; it's not a movie that feeds us answers with voice-over narration or broad cinematic gestures, but, rather, it slowly reveals itself through masterful characterization and craft.

It's a brilliant and intelligent piece of work that hits you in the gut just as it engages you in the head, and what it says about the choices we make might serve as a jump-start to the conscience. It's smart and successful on a number of levels, and it's a film I'll be seeing again before the year is through.

[Aaron]

First time director, but he was also the head writer for all the Bourne movies, and either wrote or co-wrote Armageddon, The Devil's Advocate, and Dolores Claiborne.  He definitely has quality credentials.  I'm eager to see this movie.

[Josh]

I need to see it again, but I think it might actually be the best film I've seen this year.

[Brenden]

Ok, now I'm interested.

[RedcoatJones]

Saw this today, and Josh I completely agree with your review. Slow-burning, it never-the-less gets under your skin and in your mind. The acting is excellent, and the tension is high, even without a single gunshot (though there is a nice explosion!).

This movie is not so much a legal thriller as an essay on morality, sanity, and desperation disguised as a highly entertaining legal thriller. Even though I will never (hopefully) face situations as life-threatening or powerful as Clayton, I can identify with the struggle between financial pressures and the desire to follow your heart. Between conscience and a paycheck. Certainly heady stuff to think about.