Wolfs (2024) Review: George Clooney and Brad Pitt’s Movie-Star Charisma Can Only Go So Far in This Surprisingly Dull Crime Thriller

It’s finally nice to see Jon Watts returning to a grounded, small-scale crime thriller in Wolfs, his first in nine years since the Kevin Bacon-starred Cop Car. The director, of course, is best known for taking a big leap to directing major studio films in MCU’s Spider-Man trilogy and was once attached to helm the Fantastic Four reboot, only to gradually exit the project to take a break from the superhero genre.

Now, for the first act of Wolfs, Watts gets off to a strong start: A middle-aged district attorney, Margaret (Amy Ryan) is panicked after finding an unconscious, half-naked young man in his underwear in a deluxe hotel suite. She needs to make a quick decision and among the first things she does is to call a fixer (credited as “Margaret’s Man” played by George Clooney). She happens to have his number in her contacts and throughout the phone call, the fixer instructs her carefully what to do before he’s heading to the hotel.

Once there, it seems that the fixer has everything under control until someone else knocks at the door outside the hotel room. Another guy comes in and even dresses in a similar black leather jacket and dark clothes as Clooney’s fixer character. That guy in question also turns out to be a fixer (credited as “Pam’s Man” played by Brad Pitt) working for Pam (Frances McDormand in a voice-only performance), the owner who manages the hotel. Pam has seen the whole thing from a security camera hidden somewhere in the room and she wants them to clean up the mess.

So, Margaret’s Man is responsible for taking care of getting rid of the body while Pam’s Man supervises him to make sure everything goes smoothly. Both fixers don’t see things eye to eye and constantly bickering at each other like mismatched partners in a buddy movie. It’s fun watching them playing off each other while their movie-star charisma is undeniable since this isn’t the first time Clooney and Pitt shared the big screen together. From appearing in Ocean’s Eleven trilogy to Burn After Reading, they look at ease playing the cool-as-cucumber lone wolves.

Wolfs also takes place over a single night (credits go to Larkin Seiple’s sharp nighttime cinematography) — one of the storytelling hooks that interested me in this movie. From After Hours (1985) to PTU (2003) and Collateral (2004), I have always been fascinated by the movies that happened in one night due to the elements of possible surprises and uncertainties throughout the character(s)’ journey. Watts maintains a steady pace as the story continues with Margaret’s Man and Pam’s Man trying to transport the wrapped body from the hotel room to the underground parking lot without anyone else noticing them.

Then, something unexpected happens: the young boy (credited as “Kid” played by Austin Abrams) is somewhat alive. Long story short, this makes things more difficult than they already have for Margaret’s Man and Pam’s Man. At one point, Watts elevates the movie with an elaborately entertaining foot chase from Chinatown through Lower Manhattan on foot while one of them is in a vehicular pursuit.

So far, so good. But once Clooney and Pitt’s characters learn about why the Kid is in the apartment and the whole deal revolving around a bag full of cakes of heroin. I was expecting the movie would lead to a higher-stakes scenario since Watts’ screenplay also involves the Croatian and Albanian mobs. And yet, the second half of the movie begins to stumble with Clooney and Pitt’s charismatic performances can only go so far if the story deflates with a hit-or-miss affair on dry humour and wisecracking jokes. Not to mention a surprisingly limp action scene later in the movie but what frustrates me the most is Watts’ last-minute ditch to spice up his plot with twists and turns and a conspiracy theory about what really happens. I figure it’s finally going somewhere except we have to wait for the sequel (yes, it was already announced, ahead of the movie’s release date).

Given the calibre of the talents both on-screen and off-screen, it’s hard to believe what could have been a potentially great crime thriller/caper-comedy hybrid resulted in an unlikely tedious slog with only some flashes of brilliance.

Wolfs is currently streaming on Apple TV+.