Review: Michael Clayton
"Gilroy never pretends for a minute to forge a whodunit from his story, acknowledging up front that the giant law firm is crooked, that their client is covering up a deadly secret, and that this is just the way things are. However, Gilroy’s advanced approach to deconstructing the legal thriller — the revelation of the firm’s implicit corruptibility is the basis of the story, not the summation of it — winds up hindering the film’s efficacy to a certain degree. That’s not to say it’s a bad film; just the opposite. The film is beautifully composed, and Gilroy chews on prose the way few writers do. But Michael Clayton is also a cold film, one to be admired and respected, but never held, and certainly not loved."
