Another “Ocean’s 11” reunion that runs out of bullets.
Last August on AppleTV+, we had an “Ocean’s 11” reunion between Matt Damon and Casey Affleck in “The Instigators,” which was too run-of-the-mill for its own good. And this month on the same streaming service, we have another set but with George Clooney and Brad Pitt in “Wolfs.” In a way, it’s marginally better than the last film I’ve mentioned, but it isn’t really saying much. In fact, given their previous collaborations and movie charms, I think it could have been better.
Clooney has played a fixer before in “Michael Clayton,” which had a serious and challenging character study and screenplay. He plays a fixer, once again, but with no name. He must cover the tracks of New York DA Margaret (Amy Ryan), whose much younger date (Austin Abrams) unexpectedly dies in the penthouse suite. And given the fact that people would think she was fooling around with a prostitute, it might look bad for her image. So, she gets a private number for the Clooney fixer. He gives her detailed instructions on how to handle the situation and go home without drawing suspicion.
But……in comes the Pitt fixer, who is hired by the hotel’s boss (Frances McDormand, whose face you don’t see), and order them both to finish the job. It becomes an obligatory rivalry between Clooney and Pitt as they’re supposed to be lone wolves and prefer it that way. However, the young man wasn’t dead after all. He just overdosed on a sample of the drugs he was supposed to deliver. Boy, what a night it’s going to be for these guys.
Occasionally, there are some good laughs, like some of the bantering between the two leads, and I like how Pitt drinks a mini bar Coke while Clooney does most of the cleaning. The reaction on Clooney’s face when Pitt toys with his emotions at a parking garage gate is spot on. And there is a shabby motel with some consistent and honest appeal. But what “Wolfs” lacks is the kind of style that makes these two leads so appealing and iconic. And they have collaborated outside the “Ocean’s 11” trilogy before, like in “Burn After Reading,” which had better laughs and complications than this does.
“Wolfs” was written and directed by Jon Watts, who started off with indies like “Our RoboCop Remake,” “Clown,” and “Cop Car,” and continued with commercial success with the “Spider-Man: Homecoming” trilogy. He should take a break from all the commercialism and big budgeted special effects, but he needs the right kind of elevation for the story and actors. It starts off interesting and then it gets convoluted, especially a final battle that has no point, just guns and bullets.
The best line in “Michael Clayton,” in my opinion is: “The math on this is simple. The smaller the mess, the easier it is for me to clean up.” But there’s none of that iconic dialogue in “Wolfs,” because it’s basically more of the same with the arguing and bickering.
Not that I’m recommending this movie, but I can imagine how some people are going to ask questions to the theater manager. It regards the fact that it was going to have a wider theatrical release, but will only play for one week in select locations before hitting the AppleTV+ streaming service. I think I can answer that because neither “Napoleon” nor “Argylle” were successful at the box office, and so the studio decided to take this approach. I’m sure it will be a hit on the streaming service given their star power, but we’re not really missing anything here. Maybe things will be better at the next reunion.
In Select Theaters For a Week
Streaming on AppleTV+ Next Week
