Retro Film Review: Michael Clayton (2007)

When future film history students seek an illustration of the worldview of Hollywood limousine liberals, one of the most likely candidates could be the 2007 drama Michael Clayton. Given the praise from critics and complete alignment with the dominant ideology of the American film industry, the aforementioned film has already established itself as one of the most serious Oscar contenders.

The plot of the film, at first glance, resembles Grisham's legal thrillers that characterized 1990s. The titular character (played by George Clooney) is a former federal prosecutor who has reoriented himself to private practice and works for the prestigious law firm Kenner, Bach & Leeder. His job is not typical legal representation, but "fixing", i.e., emergency interventions whose purpose is to help wealthy and famous clients to get out of uncomfortable situations as quickly as possible. Clayton's boss Marty Bach (played by Kevin Pollack) sends him on a new task related to a potential disaster threatening their most lucrative client – the megacorporation "U/North". The said company is being sued by hundreds of farmers because it had introduced cancerous fertiliser, and the corporation's top lawyer Arthur Edens (played by Tom Wilkinson) has "gone off the rails" and decided to sabotage his own case. Clayton's task is to prevent Edens from handing over compromising documents to the farmers who could cost his client billions of dollars.

Tony Gilroy, a Hollywood screenwriter known for a number of mostly overrated films, including the Jason Bourne trilogy, has shown how he is good at directing in his debut. This is primarily about the perfectly hit atmosphere of the story that completely flips the Grisham template from the 1990s and brings it into line with liberal vision of America in George W. Bush years, which is far from Clinton era perfection. So, the main character is no longer a young, poor idealistic lawyer who defeats powerful and evil forces in an unequal battle, but an ageing, emotionally exhausted corporate mercenary who still finds the strength to return to the right path. Gilroy places his transformation in a sombre, cold autumn of American Northeast, and Clooney does not allow a smile to appear on his face, suggesting to the audience the seriousness of the theme, or the situation America finds itself in.

With Gilroy's skilful handling of the camera, "Michael Clayton" is also distinguished by very good acting, especially in the case of the eternally underrated Tom Wilkinson. Even the non-linear narrative style - most of the film is actually a "flashback" - will not pose a big problem for the audience, and the question of what the film is about and what its creators want to say will be easily answered.

However, it is precisely this simplicity - or reducing a complex reality to an ideological sermon - that is the main flaw of the film. Few viewers will not immediately understand who the film's heroes and villains are. Among the latter are the corporation whose main lawyer is played by pale Tilda Swinton (known in real life for extremely left-wing views), and the assasisins, in accordance with the "politically correct" canon, must be Aryan-looking. It is also clear how the film will end, so subplots related to the private life of the protagonist (failed marriage, gambling addiction, failed restaurant, debts to loansharks, drug-addicted brother) serve no purpose other than filling up the minutes. Finally, there is an ending that must adhere to Hollywood canons, and contradict the pessimistic tone of the film, so that the audience does not draw the wrong conclusion about the state of affairs in the world. In this film, Clooney is better than in some of his earlier and more explicitly political films (Good Night, and Good Luck, Syriana), but he is still far from achieving a film that could truly be called great.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

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