Metacritic Movie Ratings
Michael Clayton Reviews

A sample of reviews from critics across the country.

• 100

  out of 100

  Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman

  It's better than good; it's such a crackling and mature and accomplished movie that it just about restores your faith.

  Read full review

• 100

  out of 100

  Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert

  I don't know what vast significance Michael Clayton has (it involves deadly pollution but isn't a message movie). But I know it is just about perfect as an exercise in the genre.

  Read full review

• 100

  out of 100

  USA TodayClaudia Puig

  It's a rare film that can challenge our minds and rattle our nerves so profoundly. This is unequivocally a thriller for adults. A deftly written, tautly suspenseful and intellectually demanding morality tale.

  Read full review

• 80

  out of 100

  The New York TimesManohla Dargis

  Mr. Gilroy hasn't reinvented the legal thriller here, but I doubt that was his intention; at its best and most ambitious, the film plays less like a variation on a Hollywood standard than a reappraisal. It's a modest reappraisal, adult, sincere, intelligent, absorbing; it entertains without shame.

  Read full review

• 80

  out of 100

  Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan

  A smart and suspenseful legal thriller that comes completely alive on-screen.

  Read full review

• 80

  out of 100

  The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt

  As with the Bourne films, Gilroy has a knack for creating strong characters and situations that resonate with tension. It may be formula, but the guy is a solid chemist as he crafts excellent set-ups and payoffs.

  Read full review

• 70

  out of 100

  VarietyBrian Lowry

  Features strong performances and a solid story, drawn from the familiar well of faceless corporations grinding ordinary people through their profit-making machinery. Yet Gilroy's fidelity to his script comes at the expense of the pacing.

  Read full review

See all Michael Clayton movie reviews at Metacritic.com