By Kevin Van Belois

The Boys Are Back Again…

In the 1990s, two of the biggest male stars in the world came to the forefront of world cinema – George Clooney and Ben Affleck.  Clooney rose up from the rubble of many failed TV series to become a huge star in “ER” and then he parlayed that fame into bigger movie roles – “Batman & Robin,” “Ocean’s 11, 12 & 13” and “Out of Sight.”  Some worked at the box office, while others did not, but he carefully built a stable of respected films – including two he directed himself.  With time, he became one of our most famous movie stars and eventually won an Academy Award for “Syriana” (not his finest performance, but a good career award for him as the Academy often does).

Affleck rose to prominence around the same time, but won the Oscar much earlier than Clooney for his breakthrough film – “Good Will Hunting.”  The award was shared with Matt Damon for the script – not for the acting, for which he had only a small part.  But it introduced him to the world and he went on to star in big Hollywood films such as “Armageddon,” “Pearl Harbor” and “The Sum of all Fears.”  Yet, there was always the feeling with Affleck that he was not as talented as his best friend.  Damon (much like Clooney) went on to make several critically acclaimed films and launch the “Bourne” film franchise while Affleck’s career began to sputter out, flop after flop...after flop.

Clooney and Affleck are both back in late 2007 with great, highly entertaining films.  Clooney has once again chosen a smart thriller that seems like a throwback to films of the 1970s.   “Michael Clayton” feels like a movie that Hollywood stopped making decades ago.  Clooney plays the title character in a performance as if he’s lost almost everything in the world worth living for…as if he’s completely burned out and worn down by life.

Michael Clayton works as a fixer, taking care of some of really dirty and delicate projects, at one of the largest corporate law firms in New York.  Saddled with mounting debt, he has to face the additional challenge of dealing with fellow attorney Arthur Edens (brilliantly played by Tom Wilkinson) trying to sabotage the firm’s biggest case.  Tilda Swinton, a revelation as litigator Karen Crowder, finds herself at a similar crossroads trying to save the case of U/North from Arthur’s sabotage.  The decisions that Clayton and Crowder make lead them on completely different moral paths but towards a riveting conclusion.

The film works on many levels.  It’s ridiculously entertaining, while grounding itself in the world of corporate malfeasance.  The story is all fiction, but it feels like something that grew out of “A Civil Action” (ridiculously underrated) or Erin Brockovich (ridiculously overrated).  Tilda Swinton gives another astounding performance.   After her roles in “Orlando” and “The Deep End”, how is she not on the level of a Cate Blanchett?   Perhaps Hollywood is scared of her plain, boyish looks.   Hopefully this film will make them take notice.   The scene where she rehearses what she’s going to say to the U/North board is the stuff that that Oscar is made of.  Oddly enough, her fiercest competition is in Affleck’s movie.

Still, the movie rests on George Clooney’s shoulders.   One finds it very refreshing that he’s left behind the blockbuster hits of Ocean’s past and has really found a role that works for him – he’s got none of the Cary Grant charisma or his own sly smile.  Michael Clayton has been beaten down by his own existence and the small rebirth he experiences in the movie blows away his acting work to date.  Clooney may have won the Oscar for “Syriana,” but this film embodies him at his absolute best.   If he can produce a couple more movies like this one, then he’ll be one of the great actors of his generation…not a bad place to be considering he’s already one of our biggest stars.

Affleck, after a long stretch of rotten movies, returns to the city of his origins…and his first big success…Boston.  More specifically, the film takes place in one of the toughest neighborhoods in all of Boston – Dorchester.   When a four year old girl disappears from her home, the family hires private detectives, played by Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan, to track her down.  Amy Ryan portrays the girl’s mother and her performance – of a woman lost to the world and full of hate, anger and regrets – is easily the best part of the movie.

In fact, while the movie meanders (and I must admit that I was lost at a couple points), Affleck allows his actors to turn in perfect performances all around.  Casey Affleck has never seemed so comfortable in a role.  He’s got to be good to go up against Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris and Amy Madigan – all of them excellent, as they always are.  While this is by no means a perfect movie, it’s really something great to see Affleck return to his roots.  He adapted the script with another writer and directed the film as well.   He does not appear in front of the camera and in a sense, this is most welcome.  Affleck is making up for his sins of the past – “Gigli” and other duds still seem too familiar.

The moral dilemma at the heart of the movie (which we won’t give away here) presents one hell of a question.  I saw this film with a group of friends and we were all evenly divided about it.  We all felt that we were right, but we couldn’t really say that the others were wrong.   It’s probably been a long time since you’ve left the movies and had a heated discussion about morals.   The movie meanders at times and doesn’t quite hold the audience as well as it should, but for the performances alone – please check it out.

These two movies bring us back two of our biggest stars, but they also contain equally brilliant performances that, I’m guessing, will be garnering Oscar talk in a couple of months.   Amy Ryan and Tilda Swinton will probably be duking it out with Cate Blanchett (reported to be amazing in the Bob Dylan pic – I’m Not There).  Both women play their parts fearlessly – daring us not to like them – asking us to see the reasons for their sometimes morally reckless choices – and they are amazing to watch.   And to varying degrees, so are the movies.   When the writers' strike forces everything into reruns, you could do much worse than these two gems - check them out.

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