MICHAEL CLAYTON is an elegantly crafted Soderberg/Clooney drama that is also part Sydney Pollack throwback. It was no surprise to see Pollack up on the screen and in the credits as a producer. The film is a conventional "issue" drama married with the kind of adult style Soderberg and Clooney have successfully injected into many of their recent ventures. The movie is smart, well crafted, and idealistic while narrowly avoiding the gooey stuff that can muss you up when you are raging against the corporate machine. It feels idealistic without being sloppy.
I am still catching up on Clooney's recent work. When did he develop into such a full blown movie star, the kind that takes care of business up on the screen? With every new role he exhibits a presence that goes beyond sex appeal. He knows how to burrow into a scene and remain true to the smallest inflections of performance. In short he is not only a movie star, but an actor. He has the chops to hold the attention of audiences who are growing accustomed to pyrotechnics and explosions. In the age of C.G. nothing holds an audience's attention like a good performance, the inflections of a man going through an interior moment in a believable way.
Tom Wilkinson is quite good (expectedly) in his role as the law firm partner who comes apart at the seems under a hail storm of moral contradictions. On the corporate playing field individual freedoms are frequently trampled and die along with individuals who get in the way. Think of "The Firm" and Grisham's "The Rainmaker". This is that kind of movie, one about the struggle between the individual and the corporate monolith.
Tilda Swinton is effective though seems to be grasping for inflection and mannerism at times. The real revelation about her character is how fascinatingly it is drawn by screenwriter Tony Gilroy (who also directs). This is definitely a well constructed "writer's" movie and Swinton's character plays the evil incarnate council for the conglomerate. However, this villain is drawn as human, struggling to play on a field so big, one must often subvert one's own humanity in order to survive. At times, Swinton's Karen Crowder seems to be flying apart at the seams. Ultimately she is not as tough as Clooney's character and this proves to be her undoing.
MICHAEL CLAYTON feels more produced than directed. The fingerprints of intelligent people are all over this movie and that is not to its detriment. For all its sexiness and intelligence the film remains conventional. There is nothing groundbreaking about the message or about the way it plays out. However, we do get to watch Clooney who is part man's man, part modern sensitive male. Leave it to a maverick (and an individual) like Clooney to partner up with the right people in order to make movies that feel both modern and timeless. As I said initially, while watching this film one is reminded of the intelligent thrillers people like Pollack have given us over the past thirty years. Think "Three Days of the Condor" and again of "The Firm".
In the new century we are expected to handle the contradictions of doing business in the modern world while remaining strong, stylish and sexy. Much as a throwback feature film should show us, MICHAEL CLAYTON's hero survives and looks good while raging against the machine. In thirty years, heroes haven't changed all that much.