“Michael Clayton,” review by Susan Granger

Faced with moral corruption within the corporate culture, a lawyer gets sucked into a dangerous cover-up when a colleague threatens to expose the conspiracy behind the settlement of multimillion-dollar class-action suit against one of his firm’s major clients.

While Michael Clayton (George Clooney) has always yearned to be made partner, he’s spent 17 years as a “fixer” for New York’s prestigious Kenner, Bach & Ledeen. When there’s a sticky or embarrassing situation, Clayton has the contacts to minimize the mess or make it disappear. But, at 45, and a divorced father with a young son, he’s broke and in debt – the result of gambling and a failed family business venture. So when the lead litigator (Tom Wilkinson), previously diagnosed as a manic-depressive, has a crisis of conscience while defending U-North, a multinational agrichemical conglomerate, the senior exec (Sydney Pollack), who is negotiating a crucial merger, puts Clayton in charge of the case. But U-North’s ambitious, duplicitous chief counsel (Tilda Swinton) knows there’s been corporate malfeasance and her job rests on protecting their interests – at any cost.

Most of the plot is revealed in flashback, after Clayton’s car explodes in flames on a deserted country road. Despite its scrambled structure and trenchant dialogue, long-time screenwriter (“The Bourne Identity” and its sequels) and first-time director Tony Gilroy makes this character-driven, multi-layered legal thriller compelling. Also credit Robert Elswit’s (“Syriana,” “Good Night and Good Luck”) cinematography and James Newton Howard’s subtle musical score.

Along with power-player George Clooney – terrific in challenging confrontational scenes – it’s packed with top-notch supporting performances from Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton and actor/director Sydney Pollack. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Michael Clayton” is an arresting, engrossing 8. It would be a crime not to see it.