Mini Movie Review - Michael Clayton

Hot damn, Michael Clayton is a good movie.  I don't even need to say much more after a sentence like that, but then that would make this an ultra-mini movie review and that's not my plan.

It is wonderfully structured so that while you are playing a classic case of whodunit through about 2/3rds of the flick.  Most movies that have you trying to figure something out generally get weak after the big reveal, as the challenge of the hunt is the real motivation to continue watching the movie.  These movies lose steam with the big reveal out there and only plot housekeeping left.  Not with Michael Clayton.  The big payoff is right at the end of the movie, even though the whodunit question was answered a good twenty minutes before the credits roll.  I think this is because the viewer gets that answer in a very natural, organic way.  There isn't a big confrontation with a showy reveal, but a very natural discovery as the plot unfolds.

I have a big man-crush on George Clooney, so I might not be the best person to write about his performance in the movie, but I'm going to anyway.  I thought he was incredible.  I rarely saw George Clooney on the screen; I almost always saw Michael Clayton.  Tilda Swinton was also amazing in her role, one for which she was awarded the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.  I haven't seen the other nominee's performances to know if she was truly the best, but after watching Michael Clayton, I certainly can't argue with her win.  The rest of the cast was just incredible, as well.  Tom Wilkinson... oh, wow.  Just simply, "wow".

The only fault I can really find with the movie is that there are many things that are just not explained very clearly.  All the information you need is given to you, but often you have to put it all together on your own using the context of the situations to connect all of the dots.  While this works wonders for the whodunit aspect of the film, it can be a bit challenging in other areas.  I felt like I spent the first 30 minutes of the movie playing catch-up.  It would have been nice for someone to just throw out a sentence like, "So we're the defense lawyers representing u-North in the class action lawsuit against them," but that would have been completely unnatural and out-of-place given how late in the lawsuit the story takes place.  I only mention this to set expectations.  You won't be able to have this movie on in the background and pick up all the necessary details.

If you like Clooney, or lawyers, or whodunits, or good movies, you owe it to yourself to watch Michael Clayton.  It is one superb movie.