‘Clayton’ a thriller worth its hype

In theaters

MICHAEL CLAYTON, written and directed by Tony Gilroy, 120 minutes, rated R.

The new Tony Gilroy movie, “Michael Clayton,” suffers from a regrettable title (it hardly screams “cerebral thriller”), but here’s the thing – since not much about this tightly wound thriller plays by the rules, why should the title follow suit?

Gilroy wrote every one of the “Bourne” movies and he makes his directorial debut here. What he showcases behind the lens is an assurance that brings to mind the early work of Christopher Nolan, whose “Memento” also dealt with a difficult narrative and which saw through it in ways that made for a challenging movie first, a deeply satisfying movie second.

While “Michael Clayton” isn’t played in reverse as “Memento” was, its story line nevertheless is dense and fractured. And yet the way it ultimately maneuvers through its narrative makes for one of the year’s smarter movies.

George Clooney is Michael Clayton, a corporate lawyer and fixer for the New York law firm of Kenner, Bach and Ledden, who is their go-to guy when it comes to freeing the firm’s clients out of a pinch. Though he can’t solve every problem – he admits he’s no miracle worker – Clayton can rub away most “issues” that come his way with the exception being those mushrooming in his personal life.

Over the course of the movie, we learn that Michael is divorced, that he has gambling and family problems, and that he is in debt to some unseemly types who want their investment money back for a restaurant Michael failed to turn into a success. If they don’t see their money soon, Michael will pay his debt in other, less pleasant ways.

This is the periphery that surrounds “Clayton,” darkening its mood while lies and deception rot the core from within. The central story involves the fallout that unravels when the firm’s chief litigator, a manic-depressive named Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson), starts to question his moral involvement in defending a company called U/North in a $3 billion class action lawsuit.

Through a private memorandum, Edens learns that the company knowingly distributed a product that killed hundreds. And by defending them, Edens now knows that he also is throwing dirt on the graves of all those who died. Considering that he has stopped taking his meds, it sends him into a massive tailspin, which the gifted Wilkinson makes for something splendid to behold.

Charged by the firm’s co-founder Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack, excellent) to clean up the mess, Clayton finds himself taking on U/North’s formidable attorney Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton), who has plenty to lose herself, should that memorandum go public.

Her character is one of the movie’s harshest, most pointed jabs at corporate America. To the high-powered world in which she moves, Crowder is polished to perfection, but one of the film’s chief pleasures comes from watching her in private. She’s a nervous wreck, constantly rehearsing speeches in ways that reveal what some authority figures don’t want you to know: They’re way out of their league, they know it, and they’re hoping like hell that nobody figures it out along the way.

As Clayton comes to see through Crowder, the movie begins its slow burn, with all of its fractured elements falling into place and Clooney delivering a performance that demands what only a few in the industry can deliver – a critical, grounded turn that allows the film to savor its well-earned commercial overtones.

Grade: A-

On DVD

“The Blue Planet: Seas of Life,” one of several DVDs recently released from the BBC, hails from the producers of the “Planet Earth” series, and where it takes us is deep within the world’s least explored frontier – the ocean.

Sir David Attenborough narrates this terrific documentary with his typical reservoirs of controlled wonderment, weaving us through the natural history of all the world’s oceans in a series five years in the making. Seamlessly, the show digs into the ocean’s nooks and crannies in ways that raise questions (and awe) about how the filmmakers captured certain shots, and also which reveal just how little we still know about our waters and their inhabitants.

The photography is crisp, often stunning – after seeing this, for instance, you’ll never look at the Amazon the same way again.

You watch the series in admiration for the effort that went into it – the attention to detail is on par with anything in “Life in the Undergrowth,” “Winged Migration” or the French documentary “Microcosmos.” And yet “Blue Planet” is its own masterpiece, offering new views of a world we might think we know but never really will know.

Equally good yet smaller in scope is “Attenborough in Paradise and Other Personal Voyages,” which gathers together seven Attenborough specials. Included are “A Blank on the Map,” “The Lost Gods of Easter Island,” “Bowerbirds: The Art of Seduction,” “The Song of the Earth,” “Life on Air,” “The Amber Time Machine,” and “Attenborough in Paradise.” As always from Attenborough, the collection is a treat.

“Only Fools and Horses: Series 1-3” is available, which will be good news for plenty – the show is Britain’s best-selling comedy of all time. The series is set in south London – Peckham, to be exact, which apparently is a boilerplate for comedic melodrama – so you know going into it that goings will get sketchy, and they do. Collected here are the first three seasons, with longtime hustlers Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst) and Derek (David Jason) still struggling to hit it big. They don’t, but the series does.

Finally, there’s “Ballykissangel: The Complete Collection,” a quirky drama set in the Irish town of Ballykissangel, which houses a large cast of characters with a mother lode of problems. Depending on the season, either Father Peter (Stephen Tompkinson), Father MacAnally (Niall Toibin) Father Aiden (Don Wycherley) or Father Vincent (Robert Tailor) are left to sort through those problems, which they sometimes do – though not always.

Colin Farrell made his mark in the fourth and fifth seasons as farmer Danny Byrne, but his role ebbed as the actor’s star rose. The richness of the storytelling in the first three seasons is noteworthy, though as several main characters (and key writers) went away, so did the quality. Eventually, the show’s whimsical charm gives itself over to the din of soap opera.

Grades: “Blue Planet”: A; “Paradise”: A-; “Fools”: B+; “Ballykissangel”: B-

Visit www.weekinrewind.com, the archive of Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s reviews, which appear Mondays, Fridays and weekends in Lifestyle, as well as on bangordailynews.com. He may be reached at christopher@weekinrewind.com.