so-called "Comprehensive Counterattack" is Clayton's sudden appearance at the end of the film. The reason why he dared to appear in front of a strong woman after the catastrophe is like what he said: I have always been a blackmailer. Compared to Arthur and Karen, Clayton is a lawyer with sound mind and body. Although he doesn't have the high status as them, as an ordinary person, he can hold his breath and analyze other people's thoughts at any time. This is the perfect lawyer. The wisdom that should be possessed.
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finally enjoyed the movie feast in "Total Counterattack" starring George Clooney. After watching the movie, I said to my friends: This is the most perfect movie in recent times. In addition to the excellent performances of Clooney and Swaitan, the director's excellent storytelling skills also resonated with me. The director of the film, Tony Gilroy (Tony Gilroy), has written scripts for many Hollywood blockbusters such as "Alien" and "The Bourne Bourne", and is a veteran of plotting and storytelling. This time in "Comprehensive Counterattack", he brought his fluent writing ability to the world of images.
The story structure of "Total Counterattack" adopts a "circular flashback". At the beginning, the lawyer Clayton played by Clooney came out of the casino and drove away. When he got out of the car to watch the two horses on the hill, the car below the mountain exploded. . It's clear that the car was pre-charged with explosives, but the camera's narrative of this period comes to an abrupt end. Soon the camera cuts to 4 days ago, and the plot after this answers why the car was installed with explosives. When the reason is clarified, the film returns to the scene where Clayton's car was bombed at the end of the film. At this time, it is very clear why his car was bombed: it turned out to be the law of the North Union Company when he was looking for the cause of death for his old friend Arthur. Consultant Karen (Tilda Swinton) is "manslaughtered".
From a narrative point of view, the cause of the film comes from Karen, this ruthless "strong woman" for her own career regardless of killing everyone who knew about the company's scandal. From the very beginning, Clayton was trapped in the circle set by this woman (the car from the casino has been charged with explosives by the killer not far away). He wanted to be involved in Arthur's death again, but his "don't want" did not mean that Karen's anxiety was eliminated. After all, he was the only one who knew the real cause of the Beilian scandal and Arthur's murder.
Karen's suspicion and assassination make Clayton, a lawyer who has always been "half-eyed", very depressed. At the end of the credits, Clayton comes with evidence that Karen bought the murderer to kill Arthur and the business scandal file of the North Union Company. In front of this arrogant female advisor, he said: "You are so blind that you can't even see who I am. I'd better let you go and kill me? I shouldn't be killed, I should been bought.
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Tony Gilroy's screenwriting talent and directing ability are comparable, and even the directing ability is more than the talent of writing scripts. "Complete Counterattack" pays attention to the links before and after the film while adopting the flashback structure, so that the audience rarely feels that the story is out of touch. Although the plot of lawyers' confession has been found in many films, even Tony wrote the script of "Devil's Advocate" a few years ago, which is also a film about the conscience of lawyers. This time it is his turn to be the director himself. Unlike writing the script, the movie needs to show the psychology of the characters and the transition of the plot through the lens. Tony takes the same fast-paced transitions as directors like Soderbergh, giving the film a strong modern feel.
In terms of rendering the characters' hearts and characters, a hysterical voice at the beginning of the film generally shows the dirty dealings and mental struggles of lawyers in the legal industry (later a scene shows that this voice comes from Arthur's speech to Clayton. narrate). The film then depicts the life of a lawyer from a small perspective: Clayton appears in an underground casino, where a decent lawyer enters and exits the casino and the gloomy night he faces after he leaves the casino shows his poverty.
Clayton is a lawyer who is short of money, and the restaurant he invested in not long ago is also facing bankruptcy. If he is a litigator who can appear in court, he may not need to go to the casino. On the explanation of why he is not a litigator, the film's answer is very ambiguous. On the one hand, it seems that the boss is unwilling to promote him, but on the other hand, because of Clayton's popularity in the industry, many people call him: problem-solving Miracle. The Beilian case was a battlefield where his boss tested him, but everything was disrupted by his old friend Arthur (the former legal counsel of Beilian Company).
Unlike Clayton's poverty, Arthur is a successful lawyer who has solved countless difficult problems during his time as corporate counsel, and has also learned a lot of untold secrets (a good name for it: trade secrets). But just when his career reached its peak, he abnormally sang the opposite tune with his employer. The drama of the whole film also happened here. When he saw the people who were infringed by Beilian's products, his conscience that had been silent for many years was rekindled in Arthur's heart. Pretend to cover up the plan to expose the "Beijing Union Scandal".
However, in a way Arthur is really crazy, as he himself said: Is all I struggle is to be invited to have fun? Usually a person reaches the peak of his career while also facing the deepest introspection. The hard-hearted person can get through this stage smoothly, but Arthur is obviously a fragile old man, and the audience is from his crazy demeanor (undressing in front of the plaintiff). ) is puzzling: why such a guy who "can't stand things" becomes a lawyer and has a good way.
Unlike Arthur's conscience discovery at his peak, Clayton has always been a lawyer who turns a blind eye. Maybe his consciousness will not reach Arthur's level, but he will never be used by any force. Sometimes "being confused" is the best choice in a sensitive industry. Although Arthur found his conscience, he caused panic and nervousness in his life, especially after knowing that someone was eavesdropping on him, his behavior was no different from a neurotic (recorded the sound of the Beilian company's promotional video and played it repeatedly). , After the transformation, Arthur bears not only the pressure of survival, but also the burden of the spirit. Although we already knew from Clayton that he had mania, what really caused Arthur's neurosis was the scars he had accumulated in his soul for years for the company to cleanse his sins.
Karen, who succeeded Arthur, was a ruthless woman. But she is also a mentally ill person. Through the scene of "suffering pain" in the bathroom, we can know that she is also suffering from mental suffering, even worse than Asher. What made the audience laugh was that such an ostensibly strong woman had to recite the manuscript several times at home before each successful speech. Her hysteria may be because she is too eager for quick success, which has caused her obsessive-compulsive disorder. But as the villain in the film, Tilda Silva's appearance is a little too elegant, and the director seems to have deliberately created a glamorous female villain.
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"Total Counterattack" is a man-centric drama, and although there are ready-made male and female pairs (Clayton and Karen), the tight plot always leaves no opportunity to develop them. Seeing that the movie was about to end in Clayton's footsteps, and the emotional drama the audience was waiting for had not yet played, Karen's success was instantly ruined by Clayton's arrival.
In shaping the character of Karen, the script is too naive. Since it is a ruthless character, he will not be frightened by a person who has not killed in public, let alone make peace. It is taboo to discuss confidential matters in public. When the audience smiled and saw that Karen was forced to bargain with Clayton in front of Clayton's hard evidence, this strong woman was at an end. Perhaps the reason why she can't be "strong to the end" is from her mental illness. In other words, her desire for promotion and indecisive obsessive-compulsive disorder have harmed her.
The so-called "full counterattack" is Clayton's sudden appearance at the end of the film. The reason why he dares to appear in front of a strong woman after the catastrophe is like what he said: I have always been a blackmailer. Compared to Arthur and Karen, Clayton is a lawyer with sound mind and body. Although he doesn't have the high status as them, as an ordinary person, he can hold his breath and analyze other people's thoughts at any time. This is the perfect lawyer. The wisdom that should be possessed.
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