MICHAEL CLAYTON

This might have been just another run-of-the-mill thriller about corporate greed, but for two things.

Firstly, all aspects of the film, from the writing and direction (by Tony Gilroy), to the cinematography (Robert Elswit), score (James Newton Howard) and acting are all top grade, making this a joy to watch.  

Secondly, two of the three main performances are extraordinarily good.

Tom Wilkinson plays Arthur, a senior litigator, or as he prefers to call it 'janitor' because his job is to clear up clients' messes.  The particular mess he has been working on for six years concerns the defence of U-North, an agricultural conglomerate, in a three-billion-dollar class action lawsuit, as a result of U-North knowingly selling a toxic weed killer, with fatal results. 

The film covers four days, starting with Arthur having an extreme manic episode because he has stopped taking his meds.  Wilkinson gives an outstanding performance as someone who has reached the end of his tether, no longer being prepared to defend the indefensible.

Tilda Swinton plays Karen, U-North's senior lawyer.  She's not in many scenes but she rightly won an Oscar for her portrayal of a woman so determined to succeed in a man's world (at least, that's my interpretation) that she has buried her moral compass deep within herself where it is slowly corroding her soul.

Then there is George Clooney as the legal firm's 'fixer', or janitor, Michael Clayton.   

This is quite possibly Clooney's best performance, because he has to suppress his usual star wattage, playing as he does someone weighed down by the things he has to do and the people he has to deal with, not to mention various personal issues such as a gambling addiction, and financial problems arising from a bad investment in a restaurant.

My only reservation about him here is that in his climactic confrontation with Karen, he doesn't quite display the full level of self-disgust that is warranted, when he says how easily he can be bought off.

Apart from that though this film is a beaut.