Wolfs (2024, dir. Jon Watts)

by Jack Martin | Sep 27, 2024

Certificate: 15

Running Time: 107 mins

UK Distributor: Apple TV+

UK Release Date: 27 September 2024

WHO’S IN WOLFS?

George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Austin Abrams, Amy Ryan, Poorna Jagannathan, Zlatko Burić, Richard Kind, Frances McDormand

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Jon Watts (director, writer, producer), George Clooney, Dede Gardner, Grant Heslov, Jeremy Kleiner, Dianne McGunigle and Brad Pitt (producers), Theodore Shapiro (composer), Larkin Seiple (cinematographer), Andrew Weisblum (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

A pair of lone-wolf fixers (Clooney and Pitt) are forced to work together…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON WOLFS?

I had a rather depressing time watching writer-director Jon Watts’ new film Wolfs. Not because of the film itself, which is just okay, but because of the circumstances in which I ended up watching it.

Originally scheduled for a full-blown theatrical release via Sony before dropping onto Apple TV+, the streamer suddenly made an abrupt U-turn and announced that the film would instead only get a very limited cinema release before exclusively playing on their service one week later, a familiar path to Netflix’s bare-minimum theatrical planning. So, not only was I denied a big-screen experience with this film, but because my TV for whatever reason wasn’t able to actually play the film, I ended up watching the entire thing… on my phone. Incidentally, that is the last place you would ever want to watch a film originally meant for the cinema, regardless of its quality, so you can imagine my frustration at having to watch and analyse a film with A-list actors and an accomplished filmmaker on a tiny, lightweight device that can fit within the palm of my hand.

Hopefully, not many of you will have to go through this experience yourself, but for a film like Wolfs, which I feel could have done just fine with an actual crowd, even if it is as basic as they come, it’s enough to put you in a miserable mood whilst you’re watching it.

The film takes place over the course of a single night in New York, which begins when a woman named Margaret (Amy Ryan), who also happens to be the city’s district attorney, panickily calls a mysterious number after a young man (Austin Abrams) seemingly dies in her hotel suite. Soon, a cool and collected nameless fixer (George Clooney) arrives to clean up the mess and dispose of any wrongdoing, including the young man’s body… until another similarly nameless fixer (Brad Pitt), hired by the hotel manager (a voice cameo by Frances McDormand), shows up to perform the same job. Both men are instructed to work together to sort the problem out, something that neither of them are particularly keen about doing – especially given their explicable stance about working alone – and as the night goes on, they end up in a larger mess involving blocks of heroin, Albanian gangsters, and the young man himself, who not only turns out to still be alive, but has an integral connection to both of those other elements.

Putting aside the very unfortunate method in which I actually watched it, Wolfs is a film that doesn’t pretend to be anything that it’s not, which turns out to be a blessing as well as a curse. You’ve definitely seen this type of film many times over, where one professional is begrudgingly forced to work with another, they don’t get along until they do, and all sorts of criminal mayhem ensues. Originality is not this film’s strongest suit, and its staggering familiarity does give the film a been-there-done-that vibe that can make it rather predictable, because so many other movies have done practically this exact plot in more interesting ways.

However, Watts is a decent enough writer and director to make it just about work, even at the bare minimum, and here he has the advantage of revelling in his return to the kind of pulpy and straightforward genre filmmaking that first put him on the map with his breakout feature Cop Car. You can practically hear the fun he’s having whilst coming up with the back-and-forth dialogue that Clooney and Pitt fire at one another, as well as framing certain sequences with a low-key but still entertaining energy, such a foot-chase involving a guy in nothing but his underwear running through the snowy streets and jumping over a car in slow-motion.

Of course, getting hugely charismatic stars like Clooney and Pitt is in and of itself an advantage, as the two A-listers share a playful chemistry filled with pettiness and disdain that only close real-life friends like them could pull off, and Austin Abrams is a highlight as a character who is in the midst of his own After Hours-like movie before ending up in this one (though if you’re after a better-written version of this exact archetype, I beg you to wait for Anora instead).

But despite the clear talent involved, not to mention the passionate throwback vibes on Watts’ behalf, Wolfs is never better than “okay”. The stars’ chemistry and the playful dialogue simply isn’t enough to overlook how thinly the plot and characters are ultimately written, for beyond their familiarity they are largely one-note which doesn’t make them particularly interesting as scenarios or people you’re meant to be watching for nearly two hours.

It’s also an oddly paced film, for it rarely ever feels like it’s building toward anything, and right around the time where you feel it’s about to finally head into the second half, you’re shocked to find that the movie is almost over already. Weirdly, this is a film where very little of consequence ends up happening, with even its rushed third act feeling pretty anti-climactic, in addition to containing some character moments that do not feel earned in any way, ultimately leaving you with little insight as to what the point of this particular story was.

It isn’t an awful film, as again there is some entertainment to be mined from the sheer star charisma of its two leads. But Wolfs, for all its potential, can’t help but feel like a slight waste of resources, no matter how you end up watching it (which, pray to God, isn’t on your phone).

SO, TO SUM UP…

Wolfs is a middling crime caper that gets some fuel out of the charismatic chemistry between George Clooney and Brad Pitt, as well as writer-director Jon Watts clearly having fun being back in his pulpy element, but its familiar and ultimately empty plotting and characterisation just leaves you hungry for much better films like it.