Two Plus Two Newer Archives  

Go Back   Two Plus Two Newer Archives > 2+2 Communities > The Lounge: Discussion+Review

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #71  
Old 11-18-2007, 04:20 PM
Dominic Dominic is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Vegas
Posts: 12,772
Default Re: Michael Clayton

[ QUOTE ]
I'll be the dissenting voice (of reason!) then: I liked it, it kept me engaged start to finish, appreciated the film-making a lot, but it didn't blow me away. Not much of a dissent, I know, but there you go.

*****Spoilers*****


I avoided this thread until I could see the movie, but several people have said it was great, so perhaps this was just the weight of expectations. Still, lots of little points kept me from sinking into the movie throughout the film. I got a sense that lots of stuff was left on the cutting room floor. Why the work on the relationship with the guy collecting the money he owed for the restaurant (both the photo in the early scene, and the comment about "just doing his job" in the late scene)?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think is to both show Clayton's attempt at being respectable (owning a restaurant) while failing at it (getting the money to open it from a loanshark). I really liked how it dramatized that dichotomous nature he was struggling with.


Why is it suddenly fine that people know Michael Clayton was killed, after all the effort to make Eden's death seem like suicide or an accident?

[/ QUOTE ]

Eden was lead counsel for the plaintiffs, and thus a unnatural death would bring some suspicion onto the defendants. Clayton had nothing to do with it the case (at least in the eyes of the law), so it wouldn't matter if he was murdered or not.


[ QUOTE ]

For that matter, why the hell did Clayton stop there in the first place? Was that supposed to be a moment of epiphany? Sorry, not that convincing.


[/ QUOTE ]

[b]He stopped his car because the scene reminded him of the horse on the cover of his son's book - and the one Eden had in his apartment.


liked your thoughts on the picture, though...
Reply With Quote
  #72  
Old 11-19-2007, 12:17 AM
maltaille maltaille is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 71
Default Re: Michael Clayton

[ QUOTE ]
I think is to both show Clayton's attempt at being respectable (owning a restaurant) while failing at it (getting the money to open it from a loanshark). I really liked how it dramatized that dichotomous nature he was struggling with.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not the restaurant itself, that whole subplot worked well at presaging his mid-life crisis. There were a couple of cues that he had a larger relationship with the man collecting the money for his loan shark though - the line "just doing my job" in their last scene, indicating Clayton's opinion of him mattered to the collector, and, more ambiguously, a quick shot just after their first scene together where Clayton, in his apartment or office, reached down to pick up a phone in front of a picture of what I thought at the time was his son and the collector sitting together. Later, when we met his father, who looked very similar to the collector, I thought it must have actually been a photo of his father and his son, but the timing was deliberate, and the 1-second long shot was both completely unnecessary to the scene, and clearly emphasised the picture.

[ QUOTE ]
Eden was lead counsel for the plaintiffs, and thus a unnatural death would bring some suspicion onto the defendants. Clayton had nothing to do with it the case (at least in the eyes of the law), so it wouldn't matter if he was murdered or not.

[/ QUOTE ]

Clayton had met with Swinton's character two days or so before, and was known to be working on the case by people in his firm (who weren't in on the hit, and as far as Swinton knew would be pissed she killed him). He'd also been interacting with the police over another death the previous day, and had a brother who was a cop (as Swinton knew). Seems more than enough to cause suspicion to me.

[ QUOTE ]
He stopped his car because the scene reminded him of the horse on the cover of his son's book - and the one Eden had in his apartment.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, and he drove there as fast as he could, taking at high speed a turnoff from the main road that was so small the car following him didn't see it. I appreciate the connection to the illustration in the book, but it didn't make it a credible action for him to take, for me, especially given it's fortuitous timing, and the tightness of the rest of the movie. The only thing that makes it vaguely viable for me is the clear allusion to getting off the track he's on being the only thing that will save his life.

Like I said, none of them are big things, and certainly none ruin the movie, but there were enough of them, and they contrasted enough with parts that did the same things very well, that they jarred a little.

[ QUOTE ]
If you enjoy Swinton, try The Deep End. Wonderful performance.

[/ QUOTE ]

This was the beginning of my love affair with Tilda. Looking forward to her both as Lady MacBeth and in the Coen brothers next film.
Reply With Quote
  #73  
Old 11-22-2007, 02:29 AM
centaurmyth centaurmyth is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: present
Posts: 310
Default Re: Michael Clayton

[ QUOTE ]
Clayton had met with Swinton's character two days or so before, and was known to be working on the case by people in his firm.

[/ QUOTE ]

He had just been given $80k bonus and 3-year contract by his own firm. That wasn't a bait-and-switch to fool him into his car where his demise awaited. It made no sense that Kenner, Bach, & Ledeen be in on it. Who else was in play? The one who stood central underneath Don Jefferies' mentorship, next to the signature that he DID have a lead on, that had a personal connection to Michael Clayton.

3-bet that [censored] all day. Plot hole? Yes, but it's cool to have to look at it through Clayton's eyes to see what the logical play is. If you watch carefully, his "solution" also pays off his brother's debt to the cop whom had to bury the seal - - he gets the collar of Tilda Swinton's Karen Crowder.

For credit, give the depth, complexity and intelligence to Gilroy's/Clooney's Michael Clayton. Just takes a while see imo...
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 05:58 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.