Review: Michael Clayton
The trailer certainly sounded suspenseful. Using the titular character’s name (played by George Clooney) as the movie title means they’re not gonna play the modesty card, and heightens the expectations.
But, it’s all a bit overblown. Drama has to be found in the subtleties, usually some subtext in the dialogue, were you have to figure out the meaning and background history yourself. And even then, there’s no follow up, nothing really fleshes out characters. Suspense dies down due to slow pacing, and not so many story twist (at least, not the ones you haven’t predicted yourself). Also, many misplaced musical cues (always too early) cause the false feeling of suspense.
Still, Clooney does his dark moody character routine (yes, the same one he’s been doing for more than a decade), and figuring out his character is at least one way to spend the two long hours.6½.