Michael Clayton (2007)

Danny Ocean apparently moonlights as a high-powered attorney advisor person. Basically here we've got Erin Brockovich without the down-home country charm. The acting is excellent from top to bottom (especially Tom Wilkinson as a chief litigator/amateur stripper), the tale itself is compelling and involving from start to finish, and the directing is altogether solid. So what went wrong? Basically the audience knows the entire story by the start of the second act, while the characters have to play catch-up for the next ninety minutes. It turns what could have been an excellent legal thriller with a winding, complicated plot into over-simplified Oscar bait. It still manages to be interesting throughout but with most of the element of discovery removed so early, the film just isn't as good as it could have been.

7 out of 10.