Michael Clayton
As he’s proved with his sharp screenplays for the “Bourne” thrillers- as well as earlier efforts like “Extreme Measures” (itself not a great film, but an interesting one nonetheless) and “Proof of Life” (which deserved better than the tabloid headlines it produced)- Tony Gilroy is a modern treasure among Hollywood writers- a writer of smart entertainments that provoke as much as they entertain. And he scores another success with “Michael Clayton,” this time going behind the camera as director as well (he does himself proud). True, the film lulls at times (a true writer, Gilroy’s script is a little too talky), but rivets as well (with James Newton Howard’s score getting an assist in that department), despite an ending that seems too closed for all the ambiguity and moral probing mustered before.
In the title role, George Clooney cuts to the conflicted soul of his character, a New York attorney with a knack for sweeping dust kicked up by his firm’s clients under the rug during major lawsuits despite a personal life left in ruins (with his gambling habit putting strain of both his responsibilities as a divorced father and his family in general). But when an associate at his firm (Tom Wilkinson, convincing in a tricky role) loses his calm and doesn’t take his medication, putting at risk a major lawsuit worth millions if lost by deciding to side with the plaintiffs, Michael is brought in by his boss (director Sydney Pollack, as adept as ever in front of the camera as he is behind it) to put the lid on things. But the deeper he digs, Michael starts to wonder whether he’s on the right side of things; when the company at the center of the suit hears about it, their lawyer (Tilda Swinton, cold as ice in public, but just as frail as everyone else in private) now has another complication to deal with in defending her client, and she’s not above ordering a hit to win the case.
It’s refreshing to see filmmakers inspired into making muckraking cinema like they did in the ’70s, back when classics like “Network” and “All the President’s Men” attacked the system with a clear sense of the moral vacuum- or moral dilemma- they were showing onscreen. Gilroy was clearly inspired to bring that spirit back, as you can tell when looking closer at his “Bourne” thrillers (as directed by Doug Liman and particularly Paul Greengrass), and obviously “Michael Clayton,” which is well-acted and clearly seen by Gilroy both as writer and director. But I can’t help but think it’s gotten a bit overpraised by critics, who have seemed to forget Michael Mann’s “The Insider,” another thriller about a whistle-blower (this one inspired by a true story), with Al Pacino’s producer and Russell Crowe’s scientist taking on two powerful institutions- Big Tobacco and the network television corporation whose profits it lines- in a struggle to tell the truth that will batter, and nearly kill, both men. That film’s provocative spirit still resonates in the same way those ’70s classics mentioned earlier continue to. Watching “Michael Clayton,” however, while the film wants to evoke that same spirit (and does at its’ best), it seems to also undercut it by also trying to play it for entertainment, and give the audience a satisfying ending, if not a happy one. Still, better to watch a film that aims for loftier ambitions and falls just short than watch a film that promises ambition, but feels completely neutered of them by the time it hits the big screen.
