George Clooney stars as an attorney and former gambling addict in the title role of this slick legal thriller. He works for a prestigious law firm in New York City as a "fixer," someone who rectifies difficult situations, often through unconventional or expedient methods. It's a story about ethics and their absence, a slow-to-boil requiem for American decency in which Clooney, the ultimate name in luxury brands and decadence of the Western world, raises the sword in the name of truth, justice and good.

As for the riveting plot, after meeting with a colleague's key client who had accidentally struck a pedestrian with his car, Clayton sees some horses near the side of the road. He stops driving, leaves his car and climbs a hill to go admire the animals. While he is watching the horses, his car explodes in a fireball. Then the movie flash back to four days earlier, and the flashback involves a significant portion of the plot. I don't want to give the details away, because this is, after all, a thriller, and spoilers just hurt the overall impact of the movie.

Clooney gives the finest performance of his career as the morally complex Michael Clayton. His screen presence, dialogue delivery and acting are all perfectly in sync, and he stands head and shoulders above the rest of the cast. The supporting actors are no slouches themselves, with Tom Wilkinson playing one of the firm's leading attorneys and Tilda Swinton as the firm's largest client's (an agrichemical company U-North) chief counsel.

Tony Gilroy directs with a steady hand and a steady eye, with none of the visual frenzy that characterizes the Bourne thrillers. His film moves rather than races. There are no real downers to this movie, except maybe a disappointingly neat climactic encounter that seems designed to give Clooney the last, rousing word, or maybe just a shot at an Oscar.

Michael Clayton is a morally alert, persuasively realistic and suspenseful melodrama, with impeccable acting and handsome direction. Dark in color, mood and outraged worldview, it is a film that speaks to the way we live now. This is modern Hollywood cinema at its finest.