George Clooney and Brad Pitt play two “fixers” in a new thriller from Jon Watts that capitalizes on the two stars essentially acting as themselves. While the film is heavy on action and wit, the narrative takes a backseat to the banter between the leads.
“Wolfs,” released on Apple TV last week, opens with a disorienting and dark sequence in which a New York district attorney played by Amy Ryan, panics at the sight of a dead young man in her luxury hotel room.
It appears as some kind of freak accident, but hints at undertones of something more menacing.
Fearful of the end of her political career, the attorney contacts Clooney’s nameless fixer character, who has a similar archetype to Quentin Tarantino’s Winston Wolfe from “Pulp Fiction.” His job is to clean up and save his client’s career, and in the process, does not mince words nor time.
His work is best done alone — a sort of monasticism — so he is thrown for a loop when Pitt’s character shows up, sent by the owner of the hotel looking to avoid a potential scandal.
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The fixers have instant chemistry in their first paired scene, reminiscent of their past work on the “Oceans” franchise and indicative of their dual status as famously well-aging superstars.
But, their partnership lacks the necessary spark due to their characters being pretty much the same. They dress in the same dark, sophisticated outfits, talk the same and only argue about minutia or who’s the boss of the situation. The only major contrast between the two is that Pitt’s fixer is unsurprisingly more laid back.
Ryan’s performance as the distraught politician, Margaret, is captivating but quickly overshadowed by the leading men that dominate the opening scene.
As the fixers take over, the plot takes a quick turn from a scandalous mystery into a frenzy of misleading action and vague subplots.
The fixers’ job is predictably made more complicated when the young man, referred to as the “Kid,” played by Austin Abrams, turns up alive and escapes, leading to a prolonged sequence where they chase him throughout New York.
As the plot unfolds, they occasionally grapple with the question of what to do with the Kid, who appears to be virtually invincible after taking an unidentified drug.
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The moral dilemma the fixers face should hold more weight than it does. Will they treat this kid as an obstacle, or a human being? But even this bit lacks genuine commitment from the script and the actors alike.
While Abrams plays a personable role counter to the coldness of Pitt and Clooney, his background makes little to no sense. Neither does the conspiracy that the fixer gig is part-time, and that they can easily switch between a regular job and decoding a mystery. It is stacked with far too many moving parts — an Albanian mob, a faceless drug lord and the “man” that handles the fixers.
“Wolfs” quickly loses its way after a strong start, opting to rely on the interplay between two of the most famous middle-aged men on the planet rather than sticking to a cohesive plot. It is a tired playbook that entertains, but does not offer much else. It includes too many action movie tropes and twists, which lack real shock value during a largely predictable second half.
The film misses out on a major opportunity to place Pitt and Clooney’s chemistry alongside interesting subtext. As the credits roll, it turns out everything is much too vague to hold any real weight for an audience. Instead a plot with a strong potential took a backseat to Pitt and Clooney, which ultimately makes for a casually entertaining yet deeply unsatisfying piece.
