Confusion in a film can create suspense, serve as a plot device or even develop a character, but the biggest problem with Michael Clayton is that it is just plain confusing. The film opens with Michael’s (George Clooney) car blowing up and proceeds to delve into what happened in the preceding four days, but the build-up to the explosion is surprisingly uninteresting. The idea of a global company destroying farmers’ lives sounds like a good plot, but the film is in need of clarity and ultimately proves lackluster.
The attempted effect from mismatched shots and juxtapose situations fails to heighten the suspense of the film, and the message is lost before it starts. Though it begins with a bang, the movie proceeds slowly and leaves the viewer with the feeling that something is missing. While the element of confusion stirred Syriana with intent and purpose, demonstrating the hypocrisy of the government, in Clooney’s latest film, this amounts to bad timing and overdone storytelling.
At least this film got the casting right. Clooney plays the title character with the deadpan attitude a fixer should have: realistic rather than heroic. Tilda Swinton, as Karen Crowder, is nearly perfect as both a representative of a guilty company and a woman who will do anything to maintain her status and power. Playing Arthur Edens, one of the star lawyers of the firm who turns against it after a revelation involving his manic-depression, Tom Wilkinson puts out a good performance despite a severe lack of character development.
The cinematography is gorgeous, going back to conventional thrillers with slowly paced pans and static shots rather than the quaky “realistic” hand-cam effects of many modern day thrillers. The close involvement with nature, such as the great shots of snow and a deer standing calmly, prove to be beautiful but only add to the confusion. What about these deer makes Michael get out of his car to stare at them? Why is there all this emphasis on nature when it is essentially a “who-did-it” thriller? The images are picturesque but they serve little point to stress what the film is trying (or not trying) to say.
The film takes a step back and looks at these characters while coolly attempting to portray them more realistically through lack of involvement. But there are times when people go to the cinema to see something that’s not real. This is not a political movie, the situation with the company guilty of poisoning farms is not explained at all and this is not a human drama as the characters are too removed. If anything, it is a corporate thriller that’s not too thrilling.
