Michael Clayton

To describe Michael Clayton as merely a legal thriller would be to undersell what is going on in this 2007 film by writer/director Tony Gilroy. This is a brilliantly written, expertly acted bit of cinema that absolutely demands you give it your undivided attention. It’s not an action-packed adventure ride but a film that requires patience and the ability to piece things together as you go rather than insulting your intelligence by spoon-feeding everything to you. Complicating that is the use of a wrap-around framing device that leaves you wondering what is going on and doesn’t pick back up on it for over ninety minutes. If you cannot meet this film on its own terms, it will be a frustrating watch, but if you can, it is well worth the time and will be a richly rewarding view. 

Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is an attorney, but not that kind of attorney. He doesn’t do corporate law nor trial law. Instead, he refers to himself as a janitor. He is sent in to clean up messes, and he is very good at his job. This latest mess involves fellow attorney Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson), who, after six years of working a case for their firm, a three billion dollar class-action lawsuit against U-North, an agricultural conglomerate, suffers a manic episode and strips naked in the middle of a deposition and chases someone into the parking lot. This outburst jeopardizes the case, and Michael Clayton is sent in to “fix” things. 

Arthur has in his possession a document proving that U-North was aware that their product caused hundreds of deaths, deaths that sparked the lawsuit in the first place. Karen (Tilda Swinton), attorney for U-North, has his apartment bugged, then later, when she finds out that he has that document, makes more permanent plans for him. Meanwhile, Michael is facing pressure from his firm because they represent U-North, and a loss of this case would jeopardize an upcoming merger of firms as well as potentially bankrupt them. He is also in a personal financial crisis as he invested all of his money into a restaurant business that ended up going under, leaving him nearly $80,000 in debt. 

There are two basic kinds of thrillers out there: the action-based and the intellectual ones. This film is firmly on the intellectual side. This is not a film with action set-pieces, and there are no shoot-outs, car chases, or gunplay. The only murder we see on screen is cold and methodical, a forged suicide meant to look like a drug overdose. That is the closest we will get to violence on screen. 

Instead, this is a film about character more than action. We are going to learn a great deal about the character of Michael Clayton, some of it not strictly necessary for the plot of this film, yet it makes him a more rounded, and heavily flawed, character. When we are introduced to him, in the bookend scenes, he is sent out to handle a wealthy client who has been involved in a late-night hit-and-run. The man, used to getting everything his way, is upset that Michael cannot just make this go away. Michael listens to his rants and insults for a while and then gives it to him like it is. He’s guilty of the hit-and-run, and there is no magic wand that will make that go away. This tells us that Michael knows his business and is good at what he does.

Later, we will learn that Michael is unhappy with his work despite it paying him very well. His attempt to get in on a restaurant was an attempt to get out of the legal field. He’s also not the best husband and father, divorced and sometimes distant with his son whom he has visitation rights with. Michael also has a gambling problem, one that is bad enough that when he goes to his boss, managing partner at the firm, Marty (Sydney Pollack), looking for a loan, the first assumption is that it is for gambling debts. The second assumption is that this request for a loan is Michael’s way of shaking the firm down, the assumption being that he has the damning evidence Arthur uncovered and is selling his silence. This clues Michael in that the firm may be complicit, or at least aware, of U-North’s illegal actions. 

Tony Gilroy has wisely elected not to cheat when it comes to the reveals of this film. There are no sudden twists or flashbacks to show us all the stuff we haven’t seen just yet in one big gotcha moment. In short, this is not Oceans 11. This is a taught legal thriller that parses out the information and expects us to pay attention so that we are on the same page as Michael throughout. The only time he is firmly ahead of us is in the finale and even that moment can be guessed if you have been paying attention to his character the whole time. 

This film came and went when it first hit theaters in 2007. But audiences eventually caught up with what the critics at the time already knew. This is a well-written, well-acted, and wonderfully entertaining picture that strings you along with a plot that is rarely predictable and is sufficiently intense at all the right moments. It is a character piece, too, giving us a protagonist that has many flaws yet we are always on his side. It’s fascinating watching George Clooney breathe life into this character and especially when he is working face to face with the late Tom Wilkinson. Even Tilda Swinton is pitch-perfect as the attorney who is in over her head. In short, this is an actor’s movie and those involved made the most of it.

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Picture: Sydney Pollack, Steven Samuels, Jennifer Fox, and Kerry Orent

Best Director: Tony Gilroy

Best Actor: George Clooney

Best Supporting Actor: Tom Wilkinson

Best Supporting Actress: Tilda Swinton (won)

Best Original Screenplay: Tony Gilroy

Best Original Score: James Newton Howard

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Release Date: October 5, 2007

Running Time: 120 minutes

Rated R

Starring: George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, and Sydney Pollack

Directed by: Tony Gilroy