BACK COVER SYNOPSIS: Attorney Michael Clayton is a "fixer", the go-to guy when his powerful New York law firm wants a mess swept under the rug. But now he's handed a crisis even he may not be able to fix. The firm's top litigator in a $3-billion case has gone from advocate to whistleblower. And the more Michael tries to undo the damage, the more he's up against forces that put corporate survival over human life - including Michael's. George Clooney portrays Michael, backed into a career corner that offers little room to fight free in this suspense and star-packed thriller writeen and directed by Tony Gilroy (writer/co-writer of the Bourne movie trilogy). Keep your eyes on Michael Clayton. He has some life-or-death decisions to make. Fast.

FILM REVIEW: "Michael Clayton" was nominated for seven Academy awards for the 2007 season, but upon sitting through this film I couldn't really see what the fuss was all about. George Clooney does a great job in the title role, arguably the best of his career, the film looks fabulous with some glorious images and sound, and the story has enough level of intrigue to engage you to at least find out what happens all the way through to the end, but it's long-winded, gets side-tracked by unrelated plot points which do nothing more than to inflate the running time, and in general has a very simple story at its heart that is apparently made to look as if there's more to it than what there is. One might even venture to say that the only reason this film has received the attention from the industry that it has is because of the players involved, beginning with Clooney and extending to the producers Sydney Pollack, Anthony Minghella and Steven Soderbergh. At the end of the film, I felt not only that I hadn't really gone on much of a journey, but that I don't really see much point in revisiting the film ever again, despite the good points in its favour.

George Clooney plays the title character "Michael Clayton" who is an expert at fixing any mess his law firm needs fixed. He gets embroiled in a case where the lead litigator, Arthur Edens (played by Tom Wilkinson) turns against the client. At first it appears Arthur has gone mental, but as Michael gets drawn in further and further, he discovers that their client, a company called U-North is actually up to criminal behaviour which is endangering lives and in the end, he has a mess on his hands that may be too big even for him.

The long-winded part of the film is largely in the first hour; the main story to do with Arthur Edens and U-North takes a really long time to get going and in the mean time, we get a flash-forward to the end of the film which serves as the opening of the film, and a back history of Clayton's character and his family relationships which deal largely with how his brother's debts have taken a toll on himself and his family. This entire subplot to do with Clayton's family is so dragged out that you have to wonder why director Tony Gilroy couldn't tell it in far less time. The film is about the case, but it takes a long time to get there and if it were not for the fact that the film finally kicks in to gear at the right time, you'd probably switch it off before it gets there. Furthermore, when the plot points pertaining to the main case are slowly revealed, they are executed in such a way as to suggest that there's a lot more going on when in fact there isn't. As a result, you get a film that appears deeper than what it really is. This kind of tactic to me makes it all a con and a big disappointment, especially considering how many Oscar nominations the film received.

The strengths of this film lie in its casting; George Clooney has a much harsher, meaner edge to him in this film that you barely see from his other films and he really commands the screen as the lead star. He portrays Michael Clayton with a level of grittiness and personal weakness, but still with a lot of strength in his dealings with everyone around him. Tilda Swinton does an excellent job as the main manager of U-North who gets in way over head by trying to kill off Arthur and Michael before they can reveal the truth of what is going on. Tom Wilkinson perhaps steals the show as Arthur, particularly with his manic-depressive ramblings which open the film which give a creepy aura to the proceedings. And Sydney Pollack is good, as always, as the lead partner in Clayton's law firm who is trying to deal with the situation.

If this film weren't so heavily hyped by the word "Oscar" I probably would have liked it more, especially with the talent involved. But as it is, it's really just a simple, average story with great actors, great pictures, and some solid directing that is getting far more attention and recognition than it probably deserves.

TECHNICAL REVIEW: The picture looks fabulous, particularly in some of the night sequences where there are no obvious mpeg artefacts. Aside from that, the picture is very clean, colourful and sharp. The well-filmed images are faithfully represented on DVD. The audio track is also excellent; a couple of moments when a phone rings you'll actually think it's your own phone ringing in the house. The film is mostly dialogue driven but for those moments where a few extra sound effects are required, they resonate well through the surround system. An excellent transfer.

EXTRAS REVIEW: The extras package on this single disc edition comprise of a fascinating, and detailed audio commentary from the director and film editor which provide some valuable insights in to the film, including how George Clooney got involved, the long eight year process to get the film made, as well as scene-specific commentary; one story of how a video-taped sequence of Clooney with the horses which was filmed as a pseudo-storyboard before filming and how it deserved to go on You Tube is one of many amusing anecdotes. There are also some deleted scenes with audio commentary which don't really add much but are an interesting addition nonetheless. Still would have liked to have seen a making-of documentary but the audio commentary is really very good. A decent extras package for a single disc edition.

BOTTOM LINE: Rent it.