A Review of the Movie Michael Clayton

The setting of this film takes place within a modern day mega law firm in which Michael Clayton played aptly by George Clooney is finding his niche as a trouble shooter or fixer for internal and external brewing storms for the firm. He is however off track on being a star litigator, which was his original tracking when he started with the firm years ago and he in some ways seems to have gone backwards.

In the opening scenes Michael goes to visit a long standing client who has never had deep legal trouble but is now in hot water as he has just left the scene of a hit and run accident and is looking to find legal help as to what to do. When Michael doesn't tell him exactly what he wants to here in terms of probable trajectory of his case, he then lashes out on Michael with a tirade of blame which goes nowhere near his own vicinity. Michael maintains a logical dialogue that brings the situation to its bad news reality. As he is verbally assaulted by his client, he flinches a bit, and you begin to see that this moment and this career has gotten under his skin. This particular matter isn't necessarily the standard case in terms of size, as the firm is also involved in a mega suit for billions in the corporate sphere.

The reality is that this person that Michael is consulting within his clients home is within the throes of the beginnings of an ordeal which is probably the worst thing to happen to him at any level in years and the first and main throw off point is his lawyer who then comes right into the ordeal. This is typical really, as the lawyer is dealing with what is usually an individuals worst scenario for the whole year.

Michael has a history of playing cards to the point of incurring debts but the metaphor of the cards played refers also to other parts of the film. Even the guys he plays cards with display such a degree of gruffness that you couldn't exactly call them friends.

He like others in his profession have followed a logical track to success. But where was he actually as the pile up of time and cases went by?

I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but one key turn is when a prominent member of the firm does a turnaround on a critical high profile multi billion dollar case. He seemingly has an ephiphany. However,it is unlikely that he just woke up to things now, having been high flying 30 year veteran. It was more like the truth of the cards he had been playing were hitting him in the face with greater and more long standing velocity. One of those cards was massive paperwork for years on end, another card was locking in an unrelenting focus on questionable stands, and another was further realizations of individual people he was adversely affecting on the other side of the table. It is classic fare, someone rising to the top of the corporation or firm having seen that as the main big mountain to climb with a single minded focus and having an idea of this mountaintop being all the worthwhile regardless of any carnage to outside opposing interests that may have been viable. But the moral fractures didn't dive below but actually widened into a potential abyss and came right up the mountain with all the benefits incurred and those ghosts cannot be easily shaken. He was much further along in his career than Michael, the starkness of his possible miscalulations having so far an outlier in time where it was a bit late to have his course reversed, contributed to his own looming meltdown which was now to the form of a fire to be contained by the firm and the first and main firefighter on the scene is Michael.

As the movie progresses, the clouds of suspicion rise to just about everybody, anybody and even anything. Even a gigantic motion picture ad for the firm in Times Square is given an aura of suspicion. The head of the firm, Marty nicely played by Sydney Pollack, seems to have some grounding, but the movie is showing us nobody is immune as becoming the shadowy figure from the dark side.

The fun of this movie is that the atmosphere just never lifts. Michael is a long ranger out there if he is looking for any semblance of a good person or good situation. Nobody is innocent and everybody out there is guilty, it is just a matter of degree and how far each wants to go in the games of the dark side. Like the shadowy card game in the opening of the movie, it is just a matter of how far this game will go and what particular devious cards will be dealt next.

Another character is a chief tan of the law firm, Karen Crowder played by Tilda Swinton. Her selfless dedication turns into a sickening narcissus, where she rehearses her speeches to her own faltering image in the mirror. These maladjustments are such that they could have maybe been balanced away if she had developed meaningful personal relationships with real people outside of her career drive that she could have bounced things off with. However she can't seem to find any good and reasonable compass beneath the surface of her job performances. The movie has an all encompassing Big Brother Orwellian feel to it where what is wrong is seemingly pervasive, yet it is so vague and so undefined, it can't yet as be caught as to the specifics. Yet the undercurrent might even be much worse then the vague darkness that is already being dealt with by Michael as there was no signs of the doors closing on this open ended nightmare where the players aren't also clearly indentified. The waters are dark and murky but not knowing what is in the uncurrents of these dark waters makes things even worse. It is like jumping into a dark murky lagoon at night, not knowing what and how many dangerous creatures of the sea are in those waters.

For Michael, it is clear that the albatross had already appeared and there will be no light coming at the end of these tunnels, and his hidden wish has been hit the hills, with the hindrance being shaky finances and ongoing debts.

The film as a whole is a simmering nightmare, with the crescendo variably building and the notes that are going to be hit unsure, but one thing is sure, that it isn't going to be a sweet song. Michael is sharp enough and tough enough to handle it, but the mounting question is why? Again, once the vultures where circling, as they had been for a long time, signs were in the skies to leave it all or indeed escape while he possibly could.

The performance brought forth by Mr. Clooney was brilliant and mesmerizing especially in the non- verbals

He tells his son that he isn't going to get caught in these traps because he has what it takes to rise above it and get away. In this scene in the car with his son, he is almost seeing him as a vicarious next generation escape, that this will not happen to him after seeing another( in the line of many )adult figures falling by the wayside. As the cell phone rings in his car during the exchange with his son, he flinches knowingly that is just another wave in the raging waters of bad news coming his way, which are carrying associations into almost everywhere he turns.

It is important to be adept as a lawyer and good legal help is very important. What can happen though for the lawyer is that the many cases mount and become like dark unrelenting seas, with no differentiating light on the horizon.

In another scene he stops his car, and goes off the country road up the hills and stares into the eyes of the beautiful horses which are right in front of him almost wishing he could find a crossing there right there into some realm of peace. It could have been something else, maybe just a flower blooming, he was looking for some symbol of hope and escape.

The sad part of this movie is that it also rings true to what some people experience in real life outside the movies. Dealing with savage crosswinds bred by wanton greed where indeed anything might be done for greed, money or for larger causes which usurp any means and for which any boundary is crossed, and it can encroach with a sweeping suddenness and the vacuuming forces of this, cannot easily be shaken no matter what happens from there. It can possibly come down to getting away at best with your very life and hopefully your soul.