Michael Clayton (2007) is a dynamic legal thriller starring George Clooney as Michael Clayton, a clandestine fixer for a powerful New York law firm. Specializing in the resolution of high-sensitivity issues for the firm's clients by exploiting legal loopholes, the storyline finds Clayton personally embroiled in a complex corporate conspiracy.
Clayton is assigned to handle the firm's lead litigator, Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson), after Edens suffers a manic episode while representing U-North, an agricultural conglomerate. In the midst of a multi-billion-dollar class action lawsuit, U-North's general counsel Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) learns that Clayton has come into possession of a confidential memo implicating U-North in a broad criminal conspiracy. Clayton is soon caught up in an increasingly dangerous game of cat-and-mouse, forced to protect himself and his family while striving to expose the truth of U-North's culpability.
Written and directed by Tony Gilroy (Duplicity, The Bourne Legacy), Michael Clayton is a striking exploration of the human cost of corporate greed. With its complex characters and suspenseful plot, Gilroy wraps his treatise on power and corruption within the framework of a genuinely persuasive genre thriller. Thought-provoking and engrossing, with a wry touch of magical realism, it's an impressive depiction of the lengths people will go to protect their utmost secrets.
Watch the trailer:
Comments