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Michael ClaytonClaudia PuigIt's a powerful and unsettling way to start a movie: A rambling, stream-of-consciousness monologue by a clearly disturbed person accosts us as a series of seemingly disconnected but tense visuals play out. The viewer is set on edge from the start of Michael Clayton and remains so as the complex story unfolds. It's a rare film that can challenge our minds and rattle our nerves so profoundly. This is unequivocally a thriller for adults. A deftly written, tautly suspenseful and intellectually demanding morality tale, it stays a step ahead of the audience and features multidimensional characters played by actors at the top of their games. The pace and style harks back to such classics of the '70s as All the President's Men or Network. This legal-eco-thriller features a superlative cast: George Clooney as a corporate lawyer called in to fix legal messes, Tom Wilkinson as a dazzlingly smart, manic-depressive litigator whose conscience is his undoing, and Tilda Swinton as a ruthless in-house lawyer for a huge agrochemical corporation faced with a high-stakes class action lawsuit. The three possess vast stores of legal acumen, even if their careers have been compromised in the integrity department. Wilkinson's character, who has spent years mounting a defense for the embattled agrochemical giant U/North, has a spectacular mental breakdown while taking depositions. Clooney is called in to smooth things over. Swinton, who obsessively rehearses simple speeches as compulsively as she puts together her power suits, is focused on saving U/North, the corporation she has devoted her life to. Sydney Pollack has a smaller, but no less remarkable, role as the chief of the law firm where Clooney and Wilkinson work. What distinguishes these characters from most cinematic creations is their complexity. They, like the drama, traffic in gray areas. And speaking of gray, Clooney looks careworn and slightly scruffy as the title character. We don't know much about him except that he likes to gamble and has a young son who can't quite command his dad's attention and an addict brother who demands too much. He's cynical and rather grim. Even his gambling seems more like work than recreation. Deeply disillusioned and a bit frayed around the edges, he's mesmerizing. Clayton may be Clooney's best role in a body of work that is increasingly assured. Wilkinson is just as convincing as a brilliant but unhinged legal mind, with an innocence that leads to an epiphany, the nature of which he tries to articulate in his opening speech. The film is written and stylishly directed by first-timer Tony Gilroy, the screenwriter behind the razor-sharp Bourne movies. Although a key plot point is revealed early, it serves to heighten our fascination with the story. A climactic confrontation between Swinton and Clooney is one of the most satisfying moments in a film bristling with fierce intensity. ?? Copyright 2007 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. |
