Wolfs review: Slick action-comedy hinges on effortless charisma of Pitt and Clooney
Just call it ‘Ocean’s Two’ and be done with it.
“There’s nobody who can do what I do,” remarks George Clooney’s ‘cleaner’ in this slick action-comedy Wolfs. Well, that’s not quite accurate, as he soon discovers when he’s called to a job in a $10,000-a-night penthouse suite in New York. There, Amy Ryan’s District Attorney, Margaret, is quivering over the mess she’s got into. A young kid is dead on the floor of the bedroom, after slipping and crashing into a drinks trolley. “He’s not a prostitute,” she keeps urging, but whomever he is, there’s a situation to clean up – especially for a public figure who is reputedly tough on crime.
Then comes the twist as in walks another ‘cleaner’, played by Brad Pitt, who has been hired by the hotel owner, Pamela, who has no wish to see her brand new luxury establishment sullied by scandal. Suddenly, these lone wolfs are forced to form a pack to get the job done. Unnamed throughout – Pitt and Clooney are simply named ‘Pam’s guy’ and ‘Margaret’s guy’, respectively, in the credits – these two both have their ways of doing things, and they have no intention of conceding ground to the other.
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With Sade’s Smooth Operator aptly playing on the soundtrack, these two soon realise that this is job where more than meets the eye. Especially when they discover a rucksack full of drugs in the hotel room. Who’s behind this? A group of ruthless Albanian narcotics dealers, perhaps? Then things really take a turn when the body they’re shovelling into the boot of Clooney’s car turns out to not be quite so dead. Played by Euphoria star Austin Abrams, the Kid, as he’s name-checked in the credits, has been instructed to drop the drugs off, which might just be the key to unravelling it all.
Premiering out of competition at the Venice Film Festival, Wolfs comes written and directed by Jon Watts, best known for the trilogy of recent Spider-Man films with Tom Holland. Much of it hinges on the effortless charisma of Pitt and Clooney, who were last on the same bill in the Coen Brothers’ 2008 film Burn After Reading. Of course, given the lightweight comic feel and crime caper milieu, it’ll suit anyone who enjoyed the easy-going chemistry forged between these A-List stars in the Ocean’s trilogy of movies. Just call it ‘Ocean’s Two’ and be done with it.
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For a film that’s largely dialogue-driven, midway through, there’s a pleasing chase both on foot and behind the wheel, as Clooney and Pitt pursue the frightened Kid through the wintry streets of New York and even into a shopping mall, with the lad just dressed in his underwear and white socks. It’s the most lively sequence in the film, at least until the third act gets very bullet-heavy, but it doesn’t quite touch the chase in Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver, which feels like something of an influence here
All set over one night, when the film moves into the final act, there’s an appearance by Triangle of Sadness’ veteran Croatian star Zlatko Burić, plays a larger-than-life drug-lord type, overseeing his daughter’s wedding in a gaudy club. Throughout, there is a neat sense of humour regarding Pitt and Clooney, notably when both are forced to take their reading glasses out to check an address that flashes up on a pager. With time catching up on even these hunks, no longer are they quite the hip young gunslingers of the Ocean’s era. Ending with a nod to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Wolfs is fun while it lasts, even if its muddled plotting and paper-thin characters won’t exactly leave you howling at the moon.
Wolfs is released on Apple TV+ on Friday 27th September 2024.
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Authors
James Mottram is a London-based film critic, journalist, and author.
