Movie Review
George Clooney and Brad Pitt reunite in charming thriller Wolfs
Brad Pitt and George Clooney in Wolfs.
Thanks to the Ocean’s trilogy, the duo of George Clooney and Brad Pitt has become iconic both on- and off-screen. After a 16-year break, they're together again, teaming up in the charming new Apple TV+ comedy thriller Wolfs.
The film, written and directed by Jon Watts, features both actors playing professional fixers with no names, people who excel in getting high-powered people out of sticky situations. They’re both called into action when the movie opens on Margaret (Amy Ryan), a district attorney, freaking out when a younger man (Austin Abrams) with whom she was having a one-night-stand has a seemingly-fatal accident in her hotel room.
Instead of being partners, though, the two men are competitors (i.e. each one is a lone wolf), requested by different people to clean up the same mess. Though antagonistic toward each other, the two initially have no problem completing the task at hand until a series of discoveries sends them on a mission around the city, one that has them utilizing their complete sets of skills.
Both actors are significantly grayer than they were in the Ocean’s trilogy (although Pitt oddly pairs a salt-and-pepper goatee with frosted tips in his hair), but their chemistry remains as fun as ever. For much of its running time, the film has the two sniping at each other, with both characters believing they are the better man for the job. The banter, and the sharp way in which the actors deliver it, is the best part of the movie.
The story of the film is more hit-and-miss, starting out strong and fading over time. Not knowing the two fixers’ names or who assigned them to do the job makes certain parts of the storytelling unknowable. The discoveries they make along the way expand both the scope of the film and the number of characters involved, making the plot even more complex than it needed to be.
Still, the film remains interesting because of the stylish way in which Watts shoots it, showcasing locations in New York that highlight both its glitz and griminess. He turns the movie into a sort of action thriller in the second half, and even if the details are sketchy, the individual scenes work well, usually because of the charm of Clooney and Pitt.
Both actors lean heavily into their established movie personas, with Clooney the smooth and suave (if occasionally befuddled) one, and Pitt the sexy, self-assured one. Their performances elevate the film as a whole and their fellow actors, even if Ryan, Abrams, and Poorna Jagannathan (in a brief but memorable role) are more than capable of standing on their own abilities.
Wolfs doesn’t reach the highs of, say, Ocean’s Eleven, but it’s a welcome reunion for Clooney and Pitt that only solidifies their status as a great movie pairing. The two of them working off one another remains a delight, even if the story they’re telling is not quite as compelling.
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Wolfs is now streaming on Apple TV+.
