Michael Clayton
“Michael Clayton” starring George Clooney, Sydney Pollack, Tilda Swinton, and Tom Wilkinson promised to be a taut and exciting legal thriller. I knew from reading my usual pre-screening Roger Ebert review that Michael Clayton was the directorial debut of Tony Gilroy. Gilroy was the screenwriter for the Bourne movies. While the second two Bourne movies were pointless retreads of the original Bourne material repackaged with a more active (active should be read as terminally shaky) camera, I still have fond memories of Jason Bourne’s premier adventure. As a result, I had high expectations from Tony Gilroy.
What I found was a quite comepetently directed film. However, the film lacked in excitement and suspense. In fact, it was rather plodding and exact in how it circles back to the beginning in its structure. When browsing through some short reviews on facebook I noticed someone mentioned how the film seemed to be influenced by 70s cinema in style. Immediately, Coppola’s “The Conversation” and Sidney Lumet’s “The Verdict” came up as a frame of reference to use to properly analyze “Michael Clayton.” Both earlier films have stylistic similarities to Michael Clayton in how they handle drama in an understated and quiet way. Unlike many more modern films which tend to go over the top for dramatic effect. See Pacino in “Heat” or “The Insider” for an example of over-the-top drama. The ending of Michael Clayton also features a long, extended scene of Clooney just sitting in a cab staring out toward the audience until the screen fades to black. This is reminiscent of many 70s films which rather than wrapping up into a neat “end” instead just “stop.” It adds to the impression that the viewer is receiving a brief two hour slice of life. Often life doesn’t end with a big red “The End” sign and fanfare like so many Hollywood epics.
I need to stress though that this is where the similarities to some of the best cinema of 70s ends. In both “The Verdict” and “The Conversation”, the main characters of the films go through profoundly life altering experiences. Though as mentioned earlier, these transformations of characters are performed with reserve and quietude of emotion by the directors and actors, it is that restraint in presentation which helps emphasize the significance of the experience. Such is not the case with “Michael Clayton”. As mentioned earlier, while the film is competently orchestrated, it is an empty experience. It merely becomes just a quiet thriller. While one can admire crisp cinematography, the actors’ performances (Sydney Pollack has played a lawyer so many times, he must be member of the bar association by now), and the ambition of the director, nobody really wants to see an un-thrilling thriller.
