Michael Clayton
My lovely wife and I had a rare date night at the movies with some friends of ours Friday night and we decided to see Michael Clayton. I’m sure the fact that we encouraged our wives to choose the movie and this one happened to star George Clooney is a complete coincidence…..
MC was written and directed by Tony Gilroy who wrote the 3 Bourne movies and a few others before, but that resume piece alone was enough for me to be interested in this movie. Plus, I like Clooney. He’s a good actor and, as one of my blog buddies mentioned in a comment on this blog, he seems like the kind of guy who would be fun to hang out with even if he was much, much cooler than everyone else. The movie stars Clooney, Tom Wilkinson and Sydney Pollack.
I have to say first that I think the title was an inspired choice. You don’t name a movie someone’s mundane first and last name unless you are making a movie about a real person. There are exceptions, but the movie-going public is trained to expect a movie named Michael Clayton will be about a real-life leader of the IRA or something like that. This movie is not about a real person, but it puts that thought in your head to the extent you watch, thinking “wait is UNorth a real company?” “Did this really happen somewhere?” And the movie gets a boost of realism before it even begins. Good thinking there.
The movie is about a law firm defending a large chemical company who is being sued in a class action lawsuit by families injured by the company’s pesticides. Clooney plays the title character who is a lawyer at the firm that specializes in helping clients out of tough spots that may be more practical than legal. He's a "fixer." For example, if you need someone to track down a key witness or help get someone through customs or figure out what to do when a key employee gets arrested, Michael Clayton is your guy.
In this movie, the main lawyer at Clayton's firm who is defending the chemical company starts going a bit nuts and Clayton is called in to do damage control. Conspiracy and mystery follow. In some ways this is the modern American tale of corporate corruption along the lines of what was alleged in the book “A Civil Action.” In other ways it is a window into what happens when people lose their moral compass and get lost in a forest of greed, ambition and narcissism. For me, as an attorney, it was very compelling. I wrestle with some of the same issues presented in the movie and since it is precisely the type of law I practice, it was easy to relate to certain aspects of the movie.
The movie moves at a very slow pace and takes the time it needs to fill in the details of Michael Clayton’s life. You can see how the seemingly innocent circumstances of his life led him down a path of moral ambivalence. The movie is really about his struggle to find his way back to being a good person and doing what is right for the right reasons. In one particularly poignant scene that serves as a microcosm for the entire theme of the movie, Michael is trying to calm down the attorney who is losing it. The attorney has begun to feel guilty about representing the chemical company and the guilt is manifesting itself in insane paranoia. Clayton finds him and tries to convince him to get himself together and at one point attempts to reassure him by saying, “Arthur, I am not the enemy.” Arthur responds by asking, “Well then who are you?” In that moment you see that Clayton is lost in a kind of moral no mans land. Is he with the firm? Is he Arthur’s friend? Is he the representative of the company? Is he complicit in the bad acts of his client or is he simply doing his job? The movie is really about his search to get out of the grey area between doing what is expected or demanded and what is right and good.
That search plays out in the context of a pretty good suspense thriller. All of the movie making basics are covered well here. The acting is subtle and true. The writing is original and interesting and at times profound. The directing kept the story moving with moments of tense suspense balanced by uncomfortable contemplation. All in all, this was a very good movie if you are willing to watch a movie the way you read classic literature. If you are just looking for the action and witty dialogue to get your heart racing and give you a thrill ride experience, then this movie will likely disappoint in spite of some good suspense and action. But if you are willing to look beyond the first level and see how the action and dialogue present themes and questions in an interesting and thought provoking way, then this will be as good a movie as you will have seen in the theater this year. Of course, that assumes that the themes resonate with you in some way.
One more personal note. There was some level of authenticity in this movie that made me feel like I was at the office. Not to say that my clients are anything like the bad company portrayed in the movie or that I daily have to wrestle with contradictions between being a good lawyer and being a good person. It was just that the stress of the lawyers involved and the kinds of decisions they had to make and the consequences that would follow for them and others, was very real to me. They got that right. The same stress that plagues me virtually every minute of the day was palpable to me during this movie. So, while it was good, I’m not likely to watch it again. But, in this case I really think that could be just me.
Here are some other notes about the movie that might help you decide whether you want to watch it.
1. For an R rated movie, the violence and language is rather tame. There is no nudity or portrayals of sex other than some sexual dialogue.
2. The closest movie I can think of to this one is “A Civil Action” or maybe “Erin Brockovich,” but Michael Clayton is much better than either of those films and really only about the same thing on the surface.
3. I see this movie appealing equally to men and women, but I could be wrong about that. My wife didn’t care for it, but in the movie’s defense, it was very late at night when we watched it.
4. This is not an action movie. It is not a strange foreign film where nothing really happens and it drags on either. There is suspense and action and a good plot. But the movie moves slowly and that really bothers some people especially if they go in expecting something else. In other words, don’t go in looking for Danny Ocean.
5. I think it is worth seeing in the theater, but you probably don’t need the big screen to really enjoy it.
Overall, I would rank it as probably an 8.5 or 9 out of 10.
MC was written and directed by Tony Gilroy who wrote the 3 Bourne movies and a few others before, but that resume piece alone was enough for me to be interested in this movie. Plus, I like Clooney. He’s a good actor and, as one of my blog buddies mentioned in a comment on this blog, he seems like the kind of guy who would be fun to hang out with even if he was much, much cooler than everyone else. The movie stars Clooney, Tom Wilkinson and Sydney Pollack.
I have to say first that I think the title was an inspired choice. You don’t name a movie someone’s mundane first and last name unless you are making a movie about a real person. There are exceptions, but the movie-going public is trained to expect a movie named Michael Clayton will be about a real-life leader of the IRA or something like that. This movie is not about a real person, but it puts that thought in your head to the extent you watch, thinking “wait is UNorth a real company?” “Did this really happen somewhere?” And the movie gets a boost of realism before it even begins. Good thinking there.
The movie is about a law firm defending a large chemical company who is being sued in a class action lawsuit by families injured by the company’s pesticides. Clooney plays the title character who is a lawyer at the firm that specializes in helping clients out of tough spots that may be more practical than legal. He's a "fixer." For example, if you need someone to track down a key witness or help get someone through customs or figure out what to do when a key employee gets arrested, Michael Clayton is your guy.
In this movie, the main lawyer at Clayton's firm who is defending the chemical company starts going a bit nuts and Clayton is called in to do damage control. Conspiracy and mystery follow. In some ways this is the modern American tale of corporate corruption along the lines of what was alleged in the book “A Civil Action.” In other ways it is a window into what happens when people lose their moral compass and get lost in a forest of greed, ambition and narcissism. For me, as an attorney, it was very compelling. I wrestle with some of the same issues presented in the movie and since it is precisely the type of law I practice, it was easy to relate to certain aspects of the movie.
The movie moves at a very slow pace and takes the time it needs to fill in the details of Michael Clayton’s life. You can see how the seemingly innocent circumstances of his life led him down a path of moral ambivalence. The movie is really about his struggle to find his way back to being a good person and doing what is right for the right reasons. In one particularly poignant scene that serves as a microcosm for the entire theme of the movie, Michael is trying to calm down the attorney who is losing it. The attorney has begun to feel guilty about representing the chemical company and the guilt is manifesting itself in insane paranoia. Clayton finds him and tries to convince him to get himself together and at one point attempts to reassure him by saying, “Arthur, I am not the enemy.” Arthur responds by asking, “Well then who are you?” In that moment you see that Clayton is lost in a kind of moral no mans land. Is he with the firm? Is he Arthur’s friend? Is he the representative of the company? Is he complicit in the bad acts of his client or is he simply doing his job? The movie is really about his search to get out of the grey area between doing what is expected or demanded and what is right and good.
That search plays out in the context of a pretty good suspense thriller. All of the movie making basics are covered well here. The acting is subtle and true. The writing is original and interesting and at times profound. The directing kept the story moving with moments of tense suspense balanced by uncomfortable contemplation. All in all, this was a very good movie if you are willing to watch a movie the way you read classic literature. If you are just looking for the action and witty dialogue to get your heart racing and give you a thrill ride experience, then this movie will likely disappoint in spite of some good suspense and action. But if you are willing to look beyond the first level and see how the action and dialogue present themes and questions in an interesting and thought provoking way, then this will be as good a movie as you will have seen in the theater this year. Of course, that assumes that the themes resonate with you in some way.
One more personal note. There was some level of authenticity in this movie that made me feel like I was at the office. Not to say that my clients are anything like the bad company portrayed in the movie or that I daily have to wrestle with contradictions between being a good lawyer and being a good person. It was just that the stress of the lawyers involved and the kinds of decisions they had to make and the consequences that would follow for them and others, was very real to me. They got that right. The same stress that plagues me virtually every minute of the day was palpable to me during this movie. So, while it was good, I’m not likely to watch it again. But, in this case I really think that could be just me.
Here are some other notes about the movie that might help you decide whether you want to watch it.
1. For an R rated movie, the violence and language is rather tame. There is no nudity or portrayals of sex other than some sexual dialogue.
2. The closest movie I can think of to this one is “A Civil Action” or maybe “Erin Brockovich,” but Michael Clayton is much better than either of those films and really only about the same thing on the surface.
3. I see this movie appealing equally to men and women, but I could be wrong about that. My wife didn’t care for it, but in the movie’s defense, it was very late at night when we watched it.
4. This is not an action movie. It is not a strange foreign film where nothing really happens and it drags on either. There is suspense and action and a good plot. But the movie moves slowly and that really bothers some people especially if they go in expecting something else. In other words, don’t go in looking for Danny Ocean.
5. I think it is worth seeing in the theater, but you probably don’t need the big screen to really enjoy it.
Overall, I would rank it as probably an 8.5 or 9 out of 10.
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