Mark Llobrera
Michael Clayton cover image

Michael Clayton

Year
2007
Watched
May 05, 2023
Rewatch?
Yes

This review may contain spoilers.

Whew. I was thinking to myself, this feels like Uncut Gems mixed with Erin Brockovich for the class action vibes, and then the credits roll and whaddaya know, Soderbergh produced this one.

I mostly wanted to revisit this because I just finished Andor, which is also about a mercenary who gradually comes around to doing the right thing to push against a corrupt system.

(While I’m on the rewatch beat I should probably revisit Clooney in The American, another movie where a professional can’t trust his bosses.)

Wild to see Merritt Wever and Katherine Waterston in these early roles. Also fascinating to note the cellphones everyone is using, knowing that in 2007 the iPhone was about to change everything.

Clooney’s amoral, venal, self-loathing final scene with Tilda: chef’s kiss. It works because everything he says is the truth. Great, Oscar-winning sweaty-pitted work from Tilda. The frantic, barely-contained anxiety bubbling under all her words and gestures, and that dramatic collapse!