Michael Clayton – 4 stars
I had heard both good and bad things about this movie prior to seeing it, the bad being chiefly that it didn’t live up to the hype, nor deserve the Oscar nomination. Not having seen the other movies or acting performances up as contenders at this year’s Oscars, I can’t really make a statement regarding that one way or another, but I will say that I liked this movie quite a bit.
It was an understated thriller that demonstrates how they should be made; the skillful layering of story elements and Clooney’s quietly intense performance deftly raise the tension without ever lapsing into histrionics or preachiness, a common pitfall with this type of story. In tone, it reminded me a bit of Dirty Pretty Things.
Writer/director Tony Gilroy executed this film with a low-key grace; the filmmaking, quite rightly, never overwhelms the story, and the final product is a powerful drama that never hits you over the head or insults your intelligence. Very nice work.