Michael Clayton [2007]
£4.97
Variation on an anti-capitalist Theme - There are so many films that capitalise on the whole anti-corporation theme in Hollywood - ironically a huge corporate entity in its own right. It s difficult therefore to make a neutral judgement on a film that highlights the corruption of a corporation, that highlights the lengths some corporations go to protect themselves. Unfortunately this film isn t quite sure how it wants to approach the issue. Somewhere in the film there s a line George Clooney utters at Tom Wilkinson, you re making it too easy for them. In some ways this captures the central problem of the film. The Tom Wilkinson character, responsible for defending a large-scale corporation against a civil action suit, begins to crack up and - tragically makes it too easy to dismiss him and his feelings - both by the audience and the large corporation. If he had the intellectual fire Clooney repeatedly attributes to him then I would like to have seen that in action. But we don t see it. Instead the film gets a bit convoluted - it brings in many other narrative threads which have no bearing on the main narrative and, I think, this ultimately dilutes the power of the story. Having said that it is difficult to find much new ground in a well worn story. With Clooney resolving the film at the end in an upbeat way you do tend to feel we can all go back to our worlds and lives and not think about the issues in the film - Hollywood wants your money but not your thought. Clooney, who I have a lot of respect for, has made a better than average variation on the anti-capitalist theme.
Deliberately obscure? - I ve noticed a trend recently of films that deliberately withhold information from the viewer so as to make the plot incredibly difficult to understand. This fools some into believing that the film is intelligent and well written. Personally I find such a device incredibly annoying. I don t want to have to spend two hours of my life wondering what the blue blazes is going on only to find at the end that the story is actually rather mundane and uninteresting. Sure I like films that have mystery and suspense but deliberately withholding information from the viewer just to try and confuse is bizarre. I didn t enjoy watching the film and at the end just felt cheated.And the bit with the horses? Oh dear. We ve lost him but let s push the button anyway. Very professional!
A thinking mans thriller (well you still need to capture attention) - This movie is too long and to uninteresting to entertain or even make you care.It is rather sad really, Clooney is trying to go up against mainstream Hollywood by producing films that don t feed the viewer and make him think. But he still has to make the movie interesting.Yes there are plenty of good and well done elements in there, but some we have seen before in a more believable story (Erin Brockovich), Tom Wilkinson does great acting as a madman who in madness maybe more sane than anyone. Tilda Swinton playes a painful role to perfection and Clooney is good as fixer for a law firm. But the outcome is a lot less than the sum of the parts. It is long and sideline stories are very unimportant and only serve to make the movie longer. You have little sympathy for almost any character, well there is Anna but you hardly get to know her. On the whole it becomes a disjointed story that just takes long to watch.I was about to give it 2 stars for the better parts but decided against it, it is the one film in a long time I actually regreted watching. If you want a good film watch Into the Wild if you want a action go see Dark Knight. Give this one a miss.
utter rubbish - Ok there are some slow moving films that build up to something and are intriguing and enjoyable overall but this is just awful tedious rubbish. I would rather watch paint dry than this. It has to be the biggest letdown of the year and one of the worst films I have ever seen.
It would appear from the number of reviews that people like it! - It is simply a great film. Fanatastic script, wonderful acting, thrilling story, brilliantly filmed and directed. That is all that needs to be said.