Watched this yesterday afternoon, as an unintentional prelude to the Oscars. And I was left wondering why it got the reviews it did. An entertaining movie, sure, and well done, but nominated for 7 Oscars, including essentially all the big ones? Not so much.
If you're looking for a good legal thriller, Fracture is far better. Not sure why it missed out on the Oscar love...there was really nothing special about Michael Clayton.
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George Clooney was the main reason for it's publicity, but last year he made The Good German or whatever and it didn't get much pub. The key for Clayton this year is the acting, which is great. The big climax at the end makes it stand out in people's minds.
All of that being said, I agree with your general assessment. Good, solid movie but not amazing by any means. However, I would put this movie on par with Fracture, so don't try to play that one up as genius...
I haven't seen Fracture, but I'm a bit surprised with your assessments. I saw Michael Clayton not too long ago, and definitely thought it deserved to be on the Oscar list.
I'm really digging Clooney's dense, intelligent thrillers. Syriana was also easily one of the best movies of its year.
Maybe it's Clooney, partially. I guess I didn't find Michael Clayton all that "intelligent", as it had a pretty stereotypical plot/ending, as far as I'm concerned.
I liked Fracture because Gosling and Hopkins are way cool actors, and unlike Michael Clayton, it took me a while to figure out what was going on. Which I liked.
But Michael Clayton wasn't structured to have a twist. It wasn't supposed to take forever to figure out what was going on. The movie explicitly gives you all the info you need within the first half hour. So... good job figuring it out, I guess.
Tilda Swinton trying to order a hit on Tom Wilkinson in plain language? Tom Wilkinson's extended, crazed monologue? The end credits? All awesome, top flight stuff.
I'll have to see Fracture now. I'll be very impressed if its anywhere near as good as Michael Clayton. The trailers for Fracture just screamed "entertaining but straightforward thriller" to me.
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