"Michael Clayton" (2007)

Tilda Swinton and George Clooney in the powerful final scene...

This is an enthralling film. It is filled to the brim with energy and wit that forces you to stay with the plot. it is fast and may be a bit hard to follow at times. it takes a few viewings for you to get the full grasp of it all. i remember seeing the film for the first time in 2008 and not really liking it. i found it trying to be too smart and trying to be too ambiguous just to make it seem like it sounded smart. Was i wrong... you could not come up with a better non-action thriller. what i love most about the film is that all of the actors talk as if they actually knew what they were doing; and some might have. that to me is vital to the plot. Tilda Swinton (who won the Oscar that year) really suprised me. she was so smart and so nerve racking at the same time. she was reminiscent of Faye Dunaway in "Network": annoying, smart and makes a drastic descision but Swinton is absolutly the more nervous one. This is not a heavy film, but one that you pensate about continuosly after the film is over.


The plot is extremely complex so i really don't wasnt to get into all of the details. George Clooney gives one of the greatest performances of his career as a fixer for a prosperous law firm. His friend is a lawyer who represented a company for many years and had a mental breakdown which included striping naked and running after the plaintiff through a parking lot. its all downhill from there. I dont want to spoil anything so that's all i'm really going to say. Tom Wilkinson gives an absolutly harrowing performance as the "stripper" and i believe he should have won the Oscar that year. He should have actually won a few year ago for the heart-wrenching performance in "In the Bedroom". He is so taut and twisted very much like Peter Finch in "Network": out of his mind and thinks he's some sort of prophet out to preach the message of the universe. they both have big intentions until they are both crushed in the very same way. Swinton, who i mentioned earlier has another thrilling performance.

The film, obviously, is incredibly well written. Tony Gilroy, who adapted the Bourne Trilogy, does a masterful job at capturing a subject that has not been dealt with before. Many Clooney fans who saw the film expecting it to be more like an action flick were highly dissapointed saying it was using too many big words and was trying to be smarter than it need to be. I read many reviews all saying very similar things. Critics of course loved its bold and enthralling movement and audacity. the last traking shot is nothing as stunning as Orson Welles "Touch of Evil" from 1958 but i thought it was perfect. it gave us time to reflect on what had happend and make our own conclusions about the characters in the film. Clooney's character is doing the same: pensating on his choices. This is a really smart film with a great resolution that hold some of the best performances of the decade.

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
2008	Won	Oscar	Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Tilda Swinton
	Nominated	Oscar	Best Achievement in Directing Tony Gilroy
			Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score James Newton Howard
			Best Motion Picture of the Year Sydney Pollack Jennifer Fox Kerry Orent
			Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role George Clooney
			Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Tom Wilkinson
			Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Tony Gilroy