Michael Clayton

Michael Clayton

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Michael Clayton

George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Sydney Pollack, Michael O'Keefe, Ken Howard, Sean Cullen

Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is an in-house "fixer" at one of the largest corporate law firms in New York. A former criminal prosecutor, Clayton takes care of Kenner, Bach & Ledeen's dirtiest work...( read more  read more... ) at the behest of the firm's co-founder Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack). Though burned out and hardly content with his job as a fixer, his divorce, a failed business venture and mounting debt have left Clayton inextricably tied to the firm. At U/North, meanwhile, the career of litigator Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) rests on the multi-million dollar settlement of a class action suit that Clayton's firm is leading to a seemingly successful conclusion. But when Kenner Bach's brilliant and guilt-ridden attorney Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) sabotages the U/North case, Clayton faces the biggest challenge of his career and his life.

Id: 10888888

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Recent Reviews


  • October 1, 2009
    A good original thriller, nicely directed by Gilroy and well acted by the cast. Clooney is on good form as usual but its Wilkinson and Swinton who really steal the show. Swinton's corporate villain is easily the best female baddie since Louise Fletcher's Nurse Mildred Ratched. He...( read more)r character is handled really well and is a good enough reason to watch the film alone!
  • September 28, 2009
    Is there such a thing as an honest lawyer? This movie struggles with that question. Could you defend a company that sell chemicals that poison its customers? This is an interesting movie to watch. I recommend it.
  • August 27, 2009
    A dull and disappointing Action Thriller, that simply lacked umph and struggled to grasp my concentration.
  • July 21, 2009
    A tremendously entertaining and pulse-pounding thriller. It's gripping, riveting, exciting, explosive, genuinely thrilling and all the way exhilerating. Director, Tony Gilroy crafts a magnetic, intelligent and top-notch powerhouse of a film. It's shaply written and terifficly wel...( read more)l-crafted. George Clooney has never been better, he gives a powerful and unforgettable performance. Stealing the show in every outstanding way. It stands as one of his greatest performances ever. A complex and compelling character. A great cast of talents that all show what their made of. A great example of what superb acting is all about. Tilda Swinton is teriffic. Tom Wilkonson is brilliant. Sydney Pollack gives a fine performance. It serves up on it's hard-boiled story with insenity that wont quit. A strong film fuelled by rip-roaring tension. A solid, remarkable, smart, brilliant, mature and incrediably energetic edge of your seat film. Sizzeling, dazzeling, extroadinary and totally edge of your seat. A drilling, haunting, ingenious and satisfying conclusion. It grabs you and dosent let go. I loved this film and everything it brought to the table.
  • June 21, 2009
    "You're so fucked. Here let me get a picture while I'm at it."

    Academy Award nominations for directing, acting, writing, movie. So basically one of "The Movies" of the year 2007. Well, Oscars don't make films great, they're just awards that give some publicity but I'll admit the...( read more) hype worked on me. I wanted to see this, watched it and got a bit disappointed.

    There's a lot of talent behind the film. Tony Gilroy, in his directorial debut, wrote the 'Bourne' films, the producers of the film, Soderbergh, Minghella etc, are well known and know how to make successful movies and the actors are so called A-list actors. But like the "Dawg" from American Idol would say; "Didn't work for me."

    The film is another corporate law firm thriller that are bound to get positive reviews from critics. Well, I ain't no real critic, just a movie buff and, man, did I get bored and depressed during the film. Like Joker said from the 'Dark Knight'; "Why so serious?". Not a single smile, everyone's looking like they got "fucked in the ass by a roll of quarters" and the cinematography lenses varied from grey to supergrey. And that's a shame because the script seemed somewhat interesting. But I had difficulties to get my focus on.

    The acting was good and I'm pleased that one of my favourite actresses got credit for her performance but I'm pretty sure that I will not give this film another chance. It might deserve it, I might like it the next time but then again why bother when there's hundreds of films that give me pure entertainment rather than depressive visuals and thoughts.
  • November 26, 2009
    definitely better than i thought it was. Excellent cast, wonderful acting from George Clooney. best interpretation about corruption and dirty work around the corporation.. michael clayton is a sheer manifestation of a clever film...one of the best of 2007...
  • November 24, 2009
    Basically he's a fixer, sorts you out in a pinch. However when he has to help a company cover up that their CEO has gone completely stark raving mad, suddenly he finds things going a little out of sorts and his life in danger.
  • November 24, 2009
    Tony Gilroy's "Michael Clayton" is a high-powered yet subtle legal thriller in which we begin to have empathy - first for one man deemed crazy by his employer and his closest friend, and then for the friend, who must determine just how crazy his friend and colleague is.


    <...( read more)br/>George Clooney plays the title character, a "fixer" for legal messes, who when we first meet him, is world-weary, beaten down by his job, and yet, still trying to commit to what he does for a living.



    Colleague and friend Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson, in the year's first sure-fire Supporting Actor nomination deserving performance), believes that he too has been corrupted by his work, protecting an agro-chemical company for years against allegations of pollution causing deaths in small towns.



    Clayton must seek out the truth at all costs, including potentially, the life of Edens, as well as his own.



    Gilroy, a first time writer-director who is famous for penning the Bourne movies, keeps the film at a remarkably steady pace, drawing us in rather than assaulting us with improbable action in corporate settings.



    The supporting cast, including Wilkinson (the anchor of the film), Sydney Pollack as Clayton's off-the-books employer, and Tilda Swinton as a remarkably nervous agro-chemical employee who knows more than she's letting on, is quite simply, uniformly, superb.



    This is definitely one of the year's best films. Nominated for 7 Oscars, including Best Picture!
  • November 17, 2009
    George Clooney had starred in some great movies (Three Kings, O Brother Where Art Thou, Out of Sight, Syriana, Good Night and Good Luck), but I hadn't paid him much mind until I saw this movie. The best performance, in my opinion, comes from Tom Wilkinson, who is delightfully MA...( read more)D! It was the movie that surprised me most in 2007, because I was predetermined to love a few and this wasn't on my radar at all.
  • November 13, 2009
    Excels in every aspect of filmmaking.

    This Guy Over Here picks this as one of the Best Films of the 2000s

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