Directed by: Tony Gilroy
Starring: George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Karen Crowder, Sydney Pollack, Austin Williams
Rating: R

Tom Wilkinson and George Clooney in Michael Clayton. (Courtesy photo)

People are calling Michael Clayton, the new legal thriller starring George Clooney, a throwback to the kind of great thrillers they used to make. Michael Clayton is a good movie, and does hearken to the less linear era of the ’70s thriller. It’s interesting to look back over that time and actually count up all of those great thrillers they used to make: The China Syndrome, The Parallax View, The French Connection, Klute. There are others, but there aren’t that many others. In reality they’ve always made movies like they used to, in nearly the same numbers as ever. Screenwriter Tony Gilroy (the Bourne trilogy) has clearly carried the spirit of the great Alan J.Pakula (Parallax, Klute) in his directorial debut. Michael Clayton is a dense story set against an austere backdrop. Robert Elswit’s camera seems immune to warm colors, and James Newton Howard’s minimal score is only a handful of dour notes. Michael Clayton is not a lively movie. It demands that you pay very close attention to follow a plot that isn’t really all that complicated. But Gilroy, in his effort to make sure this movie was like the kind they used to make, has upended the narrative, turning it back on itself with no apparent design. None of that keeps Michael Clayton from being compelling from first shot to last, thanks mostly to a commanding performance by George Clooney.

Clooney plays the title character, a “fixer” who tackles the messiest problems his high-class law firm faces. The latest: partner Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) seems to have gone crazy. In defending a shady company called U/North, Edens has suddenly shifted allegiance to the plaintiff’s side, along with stripping naked in the middle of a deposition. U/North’s senior attorney Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) understands all too well how dangerous Edens has become. She takes secret action to contain Edens, while Michael tries to do the same in his own way. Meanwhile, Michael’s own life threatens to spiral out of control.

This is an original screenplay by Tony Gilroy, yet it feels like a novel adaptation. Gilroy adds layers of character complexity to each of the leads, giving them great private moments of vulnerability. He also lets the pace slow down too much at times, and momentum must be built up all over again. This also gives the viewer time to poke around the plot looking for leaks. There are a few, brief scenes that strain credulity in this otherwise naturalistic film. But even the more deliberate scenes are nicely executed, with a great ear for dialogue. Gilroy wants his movie to breathe, which is a laudable endeavor in this era of streamlined storytelling.

The supporting cast is impressive, but George Clooney is nearly the whole show. Clooney finds the middle between his controlled, dry wit heroes and his morose agent from Syrianna. Michael Clayton is not a character whose name should be the title, but Clooney makes him earn it. Tom Wilkinson is great in a tough role as the is-he-crazy-or-brilliant Edens. There’s a great scene when Clayton confronts the cowering Edens in an alley, and through the course of the conversation Edens somehow gains the upper hand. That’s the kind of satisfying little character moment that elevates a film to another level. Tilda Swinton is chronically fascinating to look at, and no one plays intensity with more intensity than Swinton. As a shaken woman trying desperately to seem in control, Swinton’s best moments are when she practices in front of her mirror. I wish Swinton had found more colors in Karen Crowder, but that has been her style in recent years, whether as the archangel Gabriel in Constantine or as the White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia. Sydney Pollack is solid as ever as Clayton’s boss. And young Austin Williams (The Good Shepherd) is quite good as Michael’s son Henry.

Are you excited to see a movie called Michael Clayton? Neither were most people this weekend. The film’s somewhat disappointing start may yet turn into a long healthy run. This is, after all, a ‘grownup’ movie, and not necessarily subject to the first weekend obsessiveness that most movies require. The movie suggests that it is about larger issues of morality, but its final moral judgments are far from gray. Because the actual legal details of the case remain fairly opaque, it is certainly not a condemnation of big business or anything of the sort. Michael Clayton is really about redemption, and it tells its redemption story in a solid if not novel manner. Then, the theme is as old as storytelling, and it still is relevant.

Alex Manugian lives in Sherman Oaks, California, and works for the Cartoon Network. He grew up in Groton and has reviewed movies for Harvard residents for many years.