Michael Clayton (2007)

Directed by: Tony Gilroy | 119 minutes | drama, thriller | Actors: George Clooney, Sean Cullen, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Sydney Pollack, Michael O’Keefe, Ken Howard, Denis O’Hare, Robert Prescott, Austin Williams, Merritt Wever, David Lansbury, Bill Raymond, David Zayas, Skipp Sudduth

Michael Clayton is called in to do one of the things he is unparalleledly good at. Someone has caused a collision, is in trouble and they know where to find him immediately. When he drives away from the person who caused the collision, he gets out on the way to look at three horses in the dewy meadow. While enjoying the animals and nature, his car explodes due to a car bomb. Flashbacks then show what happened in the four days prior to this explosion.

As good as Michael is at his job, his private life is such a mess. He’s a divorced father, an avid poker player, facing bankruptcy caused by his brother Tim (David Lansbury) who is addicted to all kinds of things. The last thing he needs is for his manic-depressive friend Arthur to refuse to take his pills, after which he starts to behave strangely. So much so, that he is actively trying to sabotage the lawsuit that their law firm will almost certainly win over U/North. Michael thinks Arthur is going crazy as he starts to develop paranoid ideas about U/North. But when Arthur kills himself without leaving a suicide note, he begins to have doubts.

‘Michael Clayton’ is somewhere between ‘The Firm’ (1993) and ‘Erin Brockovich’ (2000), but is less exciting. Moreover, the story shoots in many directions and that is not necessarily unpleasant, but because of the many details about Michael’s private life in particular, which are not always relevant, the whole makes an unbalanced impression. The relationships between the characters themselves also require quite a bit of mental gymnastics, which in this case distracts from the plot instead of enriching it. The acting is very good. George Clooney can, of course, blend a cool gentleman with a loser like no other into a likeable character that you can easily identify with. He certainly didn’t make it easy by pulling out another series of endearing smiles, but he plays with integrity. Tilda Swinton is very strong as the ruthless yet terrified businesswoman who only lives for her work and is a maniacal perfectionist. Sydney Pollack and Tom Wilkinson are also on a roll and the young Austin Williams as Michael’s son plays very credibly. An entertaining average thriller that looks nice, with nice music and very good acting.