Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is an in-house "fixer" at one of the largest corporate law firms in New York. A former criminal prosecutor, Clayton takes care of Kenner, Bach & Ledeen's dirtiest work at the behest of the firm's co-founder Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack). Though burned out and hardly content with his job as a fixer, his divorce, a failed business venture and mounting debt have left Clayton inextricably tied to the firm. At U/North, meanwhile, the career of litigator Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) rests on the multi-million dollar settlement of a class action suit that Clayton's firm is leading to a seemingly successful conclusion. But when Kenner Bach's brilliant and guilt-ridden attorney Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) sabotages the U/North case, Clayton faces the biggest challenge of his career and his life.
The first hour of this movie was brutal. I had no clue what was going on, was bored out of my mind because I truly find few things less mind numbing than corporate law stuff, and was ready to pull the plug on the movie based on this being one of those movies that you know is "good" but its just not your cup of tea. However, WW wanted to hold on and see how it turned out and I'm glad that she did because the second hour of the movie and especially the ending were great. George Clooney performed the internally conflicted role very well and the rising tension during the last hour was also very well done.
I would recommend people checking this one out, but please be warned that the first hour feels like a very choppy nap session. The wrap up of the movie makes it worth the trip to the video store though.
