"Michael Clayton"

Once upon a time, celluloid bad guys wore black hats and pencil-thin mustaches and tended to squint a lot. These days they tend to own Forbes-list corporations, accidentally kill people while making record profits, then try to cover up the damage so as not to bother the shareholders. If the carnage is too great to conceal, they tend to hire major legal firms to bog down the truth for decades.

Unfortunately, there seems to be no lack of resources for screenwriters. Recent memory is filled with names that substantiate the notion of capitalism as culprit: the Love Canal, DuPont, Silkwood, Enron, Tyco, Adelphia.

The biggest problem, for Hollywood, is making greed a visually rewarding crime. Sometimes filmmakers get lucky: "The China Syndrome," "The Constant Gardener" and even "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (the Senate in the role of corporate bully) are visually compulsive. "The Insider," "A Civil Action" and "Erin Brockovich" are intellectually stimulating. Add the mystique of a trial- "The Rainmaker," "Class Action" and "Verdict" (the Catholic Church in the role of corporate bully)- and usually an audience is hooked.

"Michael Clayton" has all the right amounts of suspense and brooding charisma for a classic David vs. Goliath showdown. No trial is presented, but expect a gaggle of lawyers. (Sorry, I wish I had a punch line for that.)

The "David" in this case is Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson), a diligent and mildmannered attorney who seemingly wakes up one morning and realizes that he's spent the last six years of his life aiding UNorth, a chemical company accused of accidentally poisoning hundreds of farmers in the Midwest.

Edens stumbles across an internal memo, a "smoking gun" that incriminates the chemical giant- which happens to be his law firm's biggest client. Loyal yet humane, Edens suffers a mental breakdown while giving a crucial deposition. He's later arrested running naked through the streets of Manhattan. Edens has turned into a PR nightmare.

Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is the firm's "fixer"- not a great trial lawyer per se, not a great legal mind, simply a guy who knows the right people for the right circumstance, a somewhat shady character and hard to define- until you need him. The firm flies him to New York to solve the problem.

Meanwhile, Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) is chief council to U-North's CEO, Don Jeffries (Ken Howard). Crowder is a corporate autotron, a woman teetering on the verge of selling her soul.

Fearing that Edens' breakdown could have dire consequences, she has him followed and discovers the cause of his breakdown will create far greater damage than anyone on the U-North team can imagine.

Let's just say that "Michael Clayton" from this point on is a rich stew of darkening souls- a fabulous character sketch of dire people in dire circumstances. In the midst of the thickening plot, the film manages without perceptible tardiness to flesh out not only Mr. Clayton, who has a little gambling problem, but also the tormented Arthur Edens.

Tom Wilkinson's a standout performer, memorable in films like "The Full Monty," "Shakespeare in Love, "In the Bedroom" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." He's superb here as well, giving his encroaching madness a sensitive, empathetic edge.

Superb too is Britain's Tilda Swinton, who Americans might remember as the White Witch from "The Chronicles of Narnia." She is, in fact, Oscarworthy in her role as a corporate cog who plays a game so over her head that she drowns (emotionally speaking) before she even realizes she's in the pool.

Observing these two revolve around the quintessentially watchable Clooney is a mesmerizing experience. And once the stakes become lethally high, I believe "Michael Clayton," as drama, is nearly as good as it gets.

One warning: Some viewers may find the film's first few minutes a tad jarring. The bulk of the movie is told in flashback, and whenever I see those fateful words "Four Days Earlier" flash across the screen, I realize a film's either in serious trouble or has a trick up its sleeve well worth the gimmick.

Believe me, "Michael Clayton" is worth the time jump. You won't get loose threads or missing puzzle pieces, and the payoff is flawless. Both as compelling drama and as complex character study, this one's a powerfully first-rate effort.