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Mood:
- GloomyDisturbingSuspensefulCaptivatingThought ProvokingTense
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Plot:
- Dedicated LawyerFighting the SystemLegal ActionUncover TruthIntrospectionCorporate CrimesDishonestyLegal more...
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Genres:
- DramaThriller
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Time/Period:
- Contemporary21st Century
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Place:
- New YorkUSA
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Praise:
- Award WinnerCritically AcclaimedOscar WinnerPrestigious Awards
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Attitudes:
- SeriousRealisticSlow
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Flag:
- Mild Violent ContentProfanity
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Michael Clayton, 2007
English
USA
Profile of Michael Clayton
Michael Clayton can be described as gloomy, disturbing, and thought provoking. The plot revolves around corporate crimes, a dedicated lawyer, and legal action. The main genres are drama and thriller. In approach, Michael Clayton is serious and realistic. The storytelling is slow paced. It is located in New York. Michael Clayton takes place in contemporary times. The movie has received attention for being critically acclaimed and an Oscar winner. Note that it involves mild violent content and profanity.
Summary of Michael Clayton
Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is what is known in the legal world as a "fixer," or in the character's own pejorative version, a "janitor" who cleans up legal messes for VIPs and corporations on behalf of a prestigious New York City law firm. A former litigator, Clayton has found a niche that capitalizes on his legal acumen and shrewd people skills, and yet, after 13 years on the job, finds himself increasingly disgusted with his clientele. The film covers four pivotal days of his life, in which a midlife crisis and a crisis of conscience neatly converge when he is called in to "fix" a situation unfolding in one of his firm's hottest cases. Brilliant lawyer Arthur Edens (another powerhouse performance by Tom Wilkinson), representing a huge agro-chemical corporation being hit by a class action suit, has a bipolar breakdown, compounded by guilt over his defense of a company that is probably in the wrong, but is wealthy enough to buy its innocence either way. The company's CEO (Tilda Swinton) will stop at nothing to keep Edens from sinking the case. Clayton must decide how much of Edens's mad rebellion against the company is sheer mental illness, how much is true, and how much it will cost him to do the right thing.
Clooney delivers a rich performance as a hangdog and haunted man who wants to stay on the side of good, but is a little too skilled at moral margin-walking to make that an easy choice in every situation. Swinton glows as a secretly frail Amazon who somehow won't let a tortured conscience prevent her from getting ahead. The final third of the film is as suspenseful as any courtroom drama, without ever resorting to legal-thriller cliches.
Details
| Language: | English |
| Country: | USA |
| Release date: | 24 September 2007 |
| Runtime: | 119 min |
| Awards: | Academy Awards |
Awards
Cast and Crew
as Michael Clayton
as Arthur Edens
as Karen Crowder
Photos
Clips
Critics Reviews
Washington Post
- |
- by: Ann Hornaday
Entertainment Weekly
- |
- by: Owen Gleiberman
Users Reviews
- 07.August.2010
- |
- by: Brian
- Brian rated this movie
0/10
- 13.May.2009
- |
- by: John G.
- John G. rated this movie
8/10Great
