Re: Michael Clayton
*spoiler heavy*
Saw this yesterday, and was pretty blown away. All the front line performances were really good - it's hard to pick between Pollack, Swinton, Clooney and Wilkinson. I really liked how the script made you sort of identity with Swinton as a striver who was in somewhat over her head and then flipped it on us.
The film probably resonated with me a fair amount because I practice at a civil defense firm, and while not on the same scale as whomever, Pollack, and thatguy, a lot of the details seemed pretty right on. I will say that the outside litigation team getting screwed by the in-house attorney hiding/destroying evidence is not far fetched at all - I've been tangentially involved in at least one instance of this and had/got to watch the outside counsel tapdance in front of a "deeply concerned" judge. But that digression aside Wilkenson's opening monologue verbalizes the deepest darkest thoughts of many an attorney I imagine - at least the vaguely self aware ones.
My main quibble was with the minor baddies. The big jowly guy is so obviously the Deus ex Villanus. And the "security" guys are about one step away from the Talking Killers in a Bond movie. I mean seriously, a car bomb?
But those are fairly minor quibbles, and in the end, got to give it at least 4.5/5.
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