Michael Clayton

Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is the legal janitor employed to clean up after a particularly haphazard school-kid. The kid in question – a middle aged and brilliant lawyer named Arthur (Tom Wilkinson) – has gone slightly bonkers. He’s stopped taking his meds, you see, and now he’s making a right moral mess on his firms’ rather expensive playground.

The problem stems from a memo pertaining to a billion dollar case that said bonkers lawyer holds in his possession and is threatening to leak to the detriment of said firm. It reveals the injurious effect a specific pesticide has on human tissue, which is occasioned to multiply randomly and exponentially on prolonged contact. It also reveals the continuing administration of said pesticide to crops across America due to a favourable cost benefit analysis when weighed against damage inflicted. Which means it kills, basically, but it also makes a hell of a lot of money.

If this is all sounding a bit like The Pelican Brief crossed with Erin Brokovich to you, then don’t worry, it is. But Michael Clayton is also a refreshingly different look at the world of law that bucks the Hollywood trend by knowing its own place.

Popular culture has distorted the fact that lawyers lead a pretty unexciting life. They generally deal with ring binders and loopholes in exchange for a nice pay packet and a handsome retirement fund. Yet televisual representations of the law have been grossly different. Gunfight and glamour have been frequently tagged onto assiduousness and ardour so as to manufacture sexy and swift legal thrillers (Ally McBeal being the obvious culprit here). Which is all fine really, except that a) it’s faintly deluding and b) the pit has been pretty much mined by now anyway.

So along comes Michael Clayton to burst the plastic world of Hollywood law asunder. Its action is sparse and its lawyers anonymous. The central duo – Arthur and Michel – are both faced by the dubious morality of their work, and by the position in life it has afforded them. They are embodiments of The Outsider on the Inside, existentially effected and yet crucial parts of an important organization. And they are both faced with polemic ethical decisions – weighing scale moments where equilibrium is not possible.

Director Tony Gilroy’s main achievement is in his manner of addressing these key moments. Arthur’s descent into clairvoyant madness is well contrasted against Clayton’s stoic perseverance as they both face up to their positions. But Gilroy is careful not to get too close to the existential bone. Instead he deals with events in a gently nourish blackwash that never involves itself too heavily. Rather than prolonged moments of embarrassing introspection, the film concentrates on marshalling its script through a dark and minimal aesthetic. This in turn allows the narrative to simmer before boiling instead of subpoenaing itself prematurely.

And Clooney excels as the downtrodden character at the film’s core who has been sent to mend a situation that perhaps would be better left alone. This is not the gild faced George we’re used to; his eyes are ringed and his chin unattractively shadowed. There’s a perfectly pitched sense of the encircled about him, which aids the noir-like mentality. But there’s also a hint of malevolence in his demeanour. Neither is overstated, and so both keep us guessing until the (quite rousing) end.

Which is exactly what a thriller should do really. Ultimately, Michael Clayton is a taught and effective film. It sneaks up on us with a few surprises and one important lesson – namely that even within the genre of the law, films can thrill without ever needing to frill.