Film Review

09 January 2009 02:19 BST

Michael Clayton

Directed by Tony Gilroy, out September 28th in cinemas, starring George Clooney, Sidney Pollack, Tilda Swinton, running time 119 minutes .

In a nutshell…

Erin Brockovich without the short skirts and with a lot more facial hair.

What's it all about?

Lawyer, Michael Clayton (George Clooney), works for a prestigious Manhattan law firm, as a "fixer", which means he cleans up messes for the company; in other words a "miracle worker".

So when chief litigator Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) decides to bear all in the middle of a meeting with the firm's multi-million dollar client, UNorth, Clayton is enlisted for the cover-up.

As he tries to keep a cap on old pal Eden, Clayton stumbles across a memorandum proving that their defendant, UNorth, is guilty of knowingly selling poisonous pesticides to farmers, and, Brockovich-style, he has to decide whether or not to blow the whistle and send his firm bust.

The plot thickens as Clayton owes loan sharks $80,000 and is counting on the firm's managing director to bail him out; hence he is faced with a life-defining dilemma. One that UNorth's in-house chief council, Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton), has got her eye closely trained on.

Who's in it?

George Clooney stars as a lawyer from the school of hard-knocks who after 12 years at the top has never made partner; instead he is a gambling addict in recovery with a heap of negative equity following a failed attempt at running a bar with his alcoholic brother. Clooney's departure from the untouchable Danny Ocean in Oceans 11,12 and 13 to washed-out, saggy-eyed Clayton whose bleak prospects at times tug on the audience's heart strings, is convincing.

Tilda Swinton, who undertakes some unflattering scenes in some even more unflattering underwear, conveys Karen Crowder's cold determination with the blind fear of losing her job perfectly and Tom Wilkinson as nutty Arthur does well to keep the audience guessing which side of sanity this guy is on.

As an example…

Clayton to Crowder: "How stupid are you? I'm not the man you kill off. I'm the man you pay off."

Likelihood of a trip to the Oscars

This film has been widely praised as a throwback to the more sophisticated thrillers of the 70s era but doesn't push the boundaries of this decade's cinema wide enough to make it a contender for any major gongs.

What the others say

"This offers moments of suspense, some pointed scenes and star charisma, but it's also a touch confused. Heads will be scratched before they roll." - Empire

So is it any good?

The film is shot incredibly well and intimate moments with Tilda Swinton are striking, revealing a neurotic vulnerability to this ice-queen, which provides an unexpected emotional depth to the character.

Such moments of directorial flair are not a fluke. For instance, when the grime of the screen's muted tones are interspersed with UNorth's vibrant adverts, it provides a clever dramatic irony as the audience's prior knowledge allows them to appreciate the insincerity.

Overall, this is the kind of fast paced psychological thriller that you would expect from Bourne Identity writer-Tony Gilroy. It keeps its audience engaged and doesn't allow them time to stop and think. If it did, however, they would realise that the ending to this film was shamefully inevitable.

It's a good Friday night at the cinema but Erin Brockovich it isn't.

Clooney phwoar rating 8/10
Twist they never saw coming score 6/10

Actual film rating 7/10

Jenni Marsh

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