Movie
description
|
-George
Clooney
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.
Rated
- R |
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