Introducing Michael Clayton

I like genre flicks. I like movies movies that don't pretend to be anymore than what they are; horror, action, science-fiction, courtroom drama, serial killer thrillers, and cop movies - I like all those genres and I can point to hundreds of examples of each that are excellent films.

There is something to be said for the practice of taking a formula and shining it until its glossy sheen almost disguises it as something entirely different. That would be the case with MICHAEL CLAYTON, George Clooney's new legal thriller that looks and feels like a standard Legal Drama, but has been made with such care and intelligence, that it almost feels like its transcending that genre to become something more. A message flick? Perhaps, though I think the film's director and writer, Tony Gilroy, would sneer if people thought this movie was delivering a message of any sort. Its too cynical and diabolical to be strictly a message movie.

Like all legal dramas, this one is talky, but nobody here is given to speech making. People talk, but its about business, about spinning, about making and losing money. I love movies where the filmmakers have a particular ear for the profession they're portraying. Michael Clayton has a hell of an ear. There is a lot of corporate speak, a lot of talk about legal issues, dividing lines, things like that.

But, again, this movie isn't about a larger issue. Its about Michael Clayton and George Clooney is very good here. Much better than he ever was in Syriana. Clooney is an actor that I really like - I think there is a place for him in movies like this, movies that Michael Douglas made in the late 80's and early to mid-nineties. He's got that masculine, intelligent, authoritative thing that Douglas used to have, where you think the guy could handle anything, but spend a moment really listening to him and you sense the turmoil brewing beneath the surface.

I like how Clooney changes here. The movie is about a personal shift for him, but Clooney never makes it overly obvious that Clayton is changing and its a credit to Tony Gilroy that Clayton's great discovery is not that he's a bad person, its that he is who he is - Tigers cannot change their stripes, but they can do the right thing from time to time.

I really liked this movie. Its the most entertaining movie I've seen this season. Its not the best, but it is an incredibly polished exercise that leads to a lot of familiar places. It doesn't insult the audience's intelligence, but notice its small details and little ways in which it hooks you. Notice how its a legal thriller with no real interest in "The Case" itself. The movie doesn't have a lot to say about the legal system, instead, its more of a movie about people and their careers - how people ARE their jobs.

This is a common theme of Michael Mann films, which this reminded me of. All of Mann's films are about doing a job, being your career, and fuck everything else. I like the theme of people living that lifestyle, but breaking away from it. Even if its as subtle as it is in Michael Clayton.