Michael Clayton (Widescreen Edition)

Buy This Item Michael Clayton (Widescreen Edition) by Warner Home Video  Available from Amazon  $14.99  on 7-19-2008     Attorney Michael Clayton is a ?fixer? the go-to guy when his powerful New York law firm wants a mess swept under the rug. But now he?s handed a crisis even he may not be able to fix. The firm?s top litigator in a $3-billion case has gone from advocate to whistleblower. And the more Michael tries to undo the damage the more he?s up against forces that put corporate survival over human life ? including Michael?s. George Clooney portrays Michael backed into a career corner that offers little room to fight free in this suspense- and star-packed thriller written and directed by Tony Gilroy (writer/co-writer of the Bourne movie trilogy). Keep your eyes on Michael Clayton. He has some life-or- death decisions to make. Fast.Running Time: 119 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/PSYCHOLOGICAL DRAMA UPC: 085391142560 Manufacturer No: 114256 Reader Reviews This is a brilliant movie, by far the best thing I saw in 2007. I had read that Tony Gilroy sold this movie with an entire pitch consisting of something along the lines of "It's a movie about lawyers, but it never goes near a courtroom." What he ended up with - from that sparse beginning - is fantastic. George Clooney defines what being a movie star is all about. He's incredible here. The overwork and self-loathing on his un-Clooney-like face is palpable, never more so than in the opening sequence. Giroy's sequencing of that intro - fronting the car bombing, then circling back to it by re-capping the previous four days - was a pitch-perfect editing decision. the movie graps you by the lapels at that point and literally never lets go. And, as another recent reviewer points out, this is a movie that doesn't feel the need to spell everything out for you. It respects your intelligence. Other than Clooney, the other standout here is Tom Wilkinson as Arthur Edens, a bipolar lawyer off his meds. Just when you think he's completely gone, he slips in slivers of extreme focus and clarity. In particular, there's the alleyway scene in which Wilkinson tells Clooney that the only chance he had to commit him was in Wisconsin (where his character flips out in the middle of a deposition) and not in New York. Wilkinson is masterful here - in a very subtle way, he reveals himself as as the legendary lawyer the others speak about with reverence. Another reason why I like this movie so much: in places like Slate and elsewhere online, I've read how this film resonated with many, many lawyers, who found its depiction of the large firm at the center of the case very reflective of their lives. That verisimilitude means a lot to me.

Michael Clayton (Widescreen Edition) Available from Amazon Price: $14.99 Updated on 7-19-2008.

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