.: Roberts' Reviews - Movie Reviews :.

Things truly do get better with age. Take People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive, George Clooney. Ten years ago, he was jumping from television (ER) to the big screen in the box office bomb Batman & Robin and now, then years later, he is considered one of the great actors working today with works including Good Night, Good Luck and Syrianna, the later which snagged him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

It's not that great things weren't expected of the elderly heartthrob. He was considered one of the major reasons why people tuned into NBC on Thursday nights to watch their favorite doctor and movies such as The Peacemaker with Nicole Kidman showed that he could hold his own in a bigger budget production. Oh Brother, Where Art Thou under the direction of the Coen brothers started the ball rolling at an increasingly fast pace and the Ocean's Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen films were not exactly critic darlings, but they did give us a leading man that looked comfortable, confident and gave us the impression that he was having a lot of fun along the way.

Not yet in the same breath as a Pacino, DeNiro or even a Gene Hackman, Clooney has still consistently produced one good role after another like a Pez candy dispenser filled with your favorite flavor. So, it was with some anticipation when his new film Michael Clayton was beginning to hit the Festival circuit and was receiving as much praise as any film he has been associated. The film also starring Sydney Pollack, Tom Wilkinson and Tilda Swinton seemed like a drama thick with intrigue and characters rich with believable character flaws. And the result was exactly as promised as Michael Clayton is one of the best films of the year.

Clooney plays the title character Clayton and is a lawyer (or a janitor as he refers to himself on few occasions) for a large firm on the verge of a merger. He is a confident man, but also troubled and rooted debt thanks to a gambling problem and a business venture that went belly up thanks to an absentee brother/partner. Having been at the firm for longer than some of the members of my screening have been walking the earth, Clayton seems content on living each day as it comes without allowing the pressures of his personal situations intervene with his zen-like approach to things.

His life takes a dramatic change for the worse when fellow lawyer Arthur Edens (the wonderful Tom Wilkinson) suffers a breakdown and begins shedding his clothes in a pre-trial meeting exclaiming his love for the same woman he is being paid to counter argue.

When word and partial video of the incident comes into the hands of the Defendant - a company named Unorth lead in these circles by the head of legal counsel Karen Crowder (Swinton) - Clayton is called on to intervene with his friend Arthur and save the firm the embarrassment of the situation by any means necessary.

Identifying quickly that Arthur has been off his medication thus prompting his unprofessional outburst, Clayton is unable to cipher through all the riddling comments of his fellow lawyer in an attempt to determine his passion for the opposing teams case and in particular one of the many plaintiffs. Things become more complicated when Arthur goes missing and the firm becomes increasingly reliant on Clayton to find him and get him hospitalized in an attempt to show their client that things are progressing in a manner that will no longer be an embarrassment to the firm.

Unfortunately for Clayton and those associated with the case, Karen takes matters into her own hands and soon goes uses all her resources which include the use of deadly force in an effort to keep those who may have information regarding the case quiet. Very quiet (wink wink, nod nod).

The movie plays out like an intricate came of chess and Clayton becomes so involved in the case (unbeknownst to even himself) that even he becomes a target of deadly intention.

Michael Clayton is directed by Tony Gilroy who had his hands in on all three of the stellar Bourne films. Gilroy handles the pressure with ease and doesn't fall easy prey to trying to impress, speed up or create more characters and situations than necessary to keep mindless audiences (most of which just come to drool all over their popcorn while watching Clooney) comfortable.

Instead, a spider-web of masterful intense drama is played out over two hours that keeps you thinking, interested and engrossed in the plights of all characters involved with the situation. By the time Clooney shows up surprising Karen outside a corporate meeting, you feel that you have followed the character through life threatening and career changing situations that were handled in the same manner to which any normal person would react if pressed into the same service.

I loved Michael Clayton. The writing, directing and the acting - to which I could start to make the argument now that Clooney be up 'For Your Consideration' in a few months when names are stuffed into small envelopes and read out loud to a live audience of millions. It was a slow moving almost methodical character journey that might turn some people off (try and stay through the first 20 minutes that is - agreed - a little confusing). But if you keep your ticket and stay on the ride, you might just find yourself ticking off a 'seen it' beside the name in your favorite entertainment trade magazine come the new year.