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Spoiler Points for Michael Clayton (2007) [R] 119 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $13.25
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer
Click to read the non-spoiler review
Note: A fairly good search turned up no existence of the little red book that Henry Clayton (Austin Williams) tries to get his father to read and which eventually catalyzes Arthur Edens's personal call to action.
Simple Spoiler Points:
• Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) was on to something in discovering documents signed by the CEO, Don Jefferies (Ken Howard), that prove the weed killer was deadly prior to its sale and release for use on farms all over the world.
• The men that Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) has illegally tapping Arthur's phone, discover that he knows too much, causing her to give the order to have him killed. The plan is to sneak into his loft, inject him with a deadly cocktail between the toes where it will be difficult to find the injection trail, and make it look like he committed suicide. The thing is, he leaves no note. This is very unlike him and raises suspicions in Michael Clayton (George Clooney) that Arthur may have been murdered.
• After getting into Arthur's loft, inside the little red book, he finds a receipt for copies ordered at a copy shop. Once there, he finds that Arthur has made 2000 copies of his own little red book detailing the case against U North. He takes a copy and leaves the rest for later pick up.
• The guys now trailing him get a copy of the booklet somehow and take to Crowder who orders Michael's demise. They plant a bomb in his back seat and a gps device in his onboard guidance system. Unfortunately, they don't have time to quite get the gps part right which is what causes his screen to start flickering out of the blue.
• Michael gets out of the car to go and see the horses on the hill (similar to a picture in the little red book on a page that Arthur had highlighted). His car explodes leaving him with the opportunity to play dead. He tosses in his wallet, phone, and keys into the burning car. It's not clear why he thinks to do this since, he's going to have to go to the police on this (and his older brother just happens to be a police detective). It's not like they are going to find his charred body in there.
• Somehow, though, the plan becomes that he'll play dead and then pop up at the U North board meeting to discuss the settlement of their law suit. When Karen steps out to allow the board members to vote, she is immediately surprised by Michael Clayton. He convinces her to pay him $10 million to keep quiet about Arthur's murder, the U North case, etc., all the while his older brother is listening on the other end of his cell phone conversation. She agrees, and then she and Jefferies (Ken Howard) are busted.
• Michael heads the escalator, hops in a cab, hands over $50, and tells the driver to drive. He looks sad and forlorn for the next few minutes as credits flash.
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