India Broadband Forum

dunadain

Just saw this movie and loved it so you people will have to suffer the below review

The titular character (Michael Clayton) played by Goerge Clooney is a fixer upper, the go to man when the $hit hits the fan who works for a reputed New York law firm. He is called in to get his firm and friend out of trouble when that friend (played stupendously well by Tom Wilkinson) has a nervous breakdown during a major litigation for their firms primary client U-North.
How Michael Clayton tries to retrieve the situation and at the same time tries to make sense out of his life is what the movie is all about.

Although on the face of it this sounds like any normal law movie churned out by Hollywood let me assure you it is not.
It has a terrific screenplay written by Tony Gilroy who also directs the movie supported by some terrific actors.
Tilda Swinton as the general counsel for U-North (Karen Crowder) is absolutely marvelous. Watch her preparing for her interview and also at the end - simply superb.
Tom Wilkinson as the manic depressive lawyer Arthur Edens who is trying to rectify a mistake he has perpetrated while trying to deal with his own insecurities brings to fore the desperation of the character like (I daresay) nobody else could have.
They are supported by a very good supporting cast even the two surveillance guys play their parts perfectly.
And Finally (I won't extend this torture any further ) the movie belongs to Goerge Clooney. He so expertly under plays the character of Michael Clayton as if he invented the term. From the opening sequence where is called in to fix a problem of an important client of the firm to the final scene where he convinces you that he has gone over to the other side and even later during the final credits you cannot take your eyes of him. He takes the film by the scruff of its neck and molds it around himself. He never ever goes over the top or gets loud (except for the last sequence, even then minimally) and yet he fills the screen. The only thing i am sorry about is i did not watch this movie in the theatre. Watch the play of expressions on his face when he spies horses on a hilltop (can't reveal anything more about this without it being a spoiler) or at the very end during the above mentioned closing titles and you can feel his frustration at being stuck with a job for which he is the perfect man but it is not the perfect job for him.
It is a movie about a person who is absolutely indispensible but always operates in the background while never getting a whiff of the limelight.

Watch this movie for a terrific story, terrific acting and last but not the least watch it for George Clooney/Michael Clayton.