Wolfs Review: Brad Pitt And George Clooney Reunite For A Stylish, Serviceable Scorsese Riff

"It's gonna be a long night," Brad Pitt's unnamed "cleaner" wearily observes when things officially go from bad to worse early on in "Wolfs." It's only the first of the film's many winking, self-reverential story beats, throwing back to one of the great cinematic rites of passage for any filmmaker looking to make their own mark on crime thrillers. John Carpenter's "Assault on Precinct 13," Sidney Lumet's "Dog Day Afternoon," and especially Martin Scorsese's "After Hours" perfected the art of throwing every possible obstacle they could think of at their heroes, putting them through the wringer over the course of a single endless day or night. "Wolfs" is writer/director Jon Watts' almost revisionist response to those classics of decades past, with the added bonus of reuniting movie stars Pitt and George Clooney for the first time since the "Ocean's" trilogy and "Burn After Reading." (No, we're not counting their recent voice cameos in "If," but thanks for playing.)

This movie, like so many of its predecessors, begins with a night gone horribly wrong. The opening establishing shot of the New York City skyline is literally shattered by the sound of broken glass, the sickening thud of a body hitting the floor, and a woman screaming in bloody terror. Here we meet the brilliantly-cast Amy Ryan as Margaret, a public figure in a career that's too ironic to spoil here, and her young lover (a surprisingly scene-stealing Austin Abrams) who inadvertently kicks off all the chaos with his gruesome accident. Desperate to avoid a scandal, she breaks the metaphorical glass in case of emergency and calls a number bringing George Clooney's unnamed fixer to her hotel doorstep. Grizzled and gruff as only a lifelong professional could be, it's easy to imagine a plot where he single handedly cleans up this mess with all the ruthless efficiency of Michael Clayton himself. Watts certainly plays with the notion that "Wolfs" could very well act as a spiritual "sequel" to that 2007 gem, but he clearly has much more interesting ideas in mind.

Another unexpected knock at the door brings Pitt's younger and more polished rival onto the scene, at which point this straightforward thriller turns into a convoluted caper and a genuine lark. Egos clash to hilarious results, mistakes are made in the heat of the moment, and absurd twists and turns lurk around every street corner as they struggle to dispose of this inconvenient body and deal with further complications popping up every step of the way. With a premise about two lone wolves in the exact same line of work who are forced to team up and make it to sunrise in the city that never sleeps, it's no wonder this script was apparently such a hot commodity. Going in, the only question revolved around whether the final product could actually live up to its sky-high potential. The verdict? Frequently funny and consistently stylish, "Wolfs" is a solid and serviceable enough addition to the genre — though one that's perhaps a bit too indebted to the influence of Scorsese. 

It's amazing what happens when promising artists are allowed to thrive where they work best. Here, Jon Watts is free to define "Wolfs" exactly as he pleases, taking cinema's most precious dwindling resource and constructing an entire story about the importance of movie stars (and, by extension, the intuitive filmmakers directing them). Clooney and Pitt both receive intros that befit their respective statuses, setting the tone for a movie that all but turns to the camera and asks whether two of our biggest on-screen icons can even stomach sharing the screen together (or, for that matter, first billing rights in the credits) for the span of its breezy 108-minute runtime. In the process, this comedic drama pokes all sorts of self-deprecating fun at our prickly protagonists. As they scratch and claw for every inch of screen time, a simmering dynamic that even extends to dialogue how they're framed and blocked in every scene, both aging characters take moments to recover as they tweak their backs, get thoroughly winded during foot chases, and even sheepishly fetch their reading glasses.

Removed from the auspices of the Marvel machine and his thuddingly workmanlike "Spider-Man" trilogy, Watts flaunts a sense of acerbic wit and personality we haven't seen since his promising 2015 debut "Cop Car." On the surface, it was an interesting choice on Marvel's part to tap an up-and-coming talent for their biggest reboot, an effort that would go on to dominate the next three movies and six years of his career. But could even the biggest fans tell where the director's input ended and the studio notes began? In "Wolfs," that's an issue thankfully sidestepped completely. This is a case where Watts is given enough leash to do his own thing, flawlessly executing one amusing, laugh-out-loud sight gag after another ... almost as if he were landing a punchline to a joke we didn't even realize he was telling. And all the while, the established chemistry between his two A-listers gives us no shortage of gut-busting moments, orchestrating their battle of egos as it devolves into dick-measuring contests and even playground bickering.

Threading this particular tonal needle requires a strong hand at the wheel to navigate these big swings, which only reaches new heights when a major plot twist at the end of the first act (executed, as always, through a big laugh moment) completely and irrevocably changes the course of the narrative. Watts is (mostly) up to the task, muddling through some occasionally dry and perfunctory directing — a major shootout falls oddly flat, though an earlier car chase through Chinatown provides a much-needed hit of adrenaline — but making up for it with a keen sense of lighting and camera movement. Cinematographer Larkin Seiple and production designer Jade Healy go above and beyond the call of duty here, transforming nighttime streets, indoor malls, seedy back alleys, and other New York City landmarks into a neon-drenched, shadow-laden, snow-filled labyrinth.

Yet for as entertaining as "Wolfs" is, carried in no small part by Pitt and Clooney's command performances, viewers may come away slightly underwhelmed. Not all of that is the fault of Watts' actual film, mind you. Disappointingly, we return to an ongoing trend of streaming services handing out blank checks (and, make no mistake, Apple TV+ paid for this movie) that traditional studios have increasingly shied away from committing to. That goes double for movies made with adult audiences in mind, particularly one relying on little more than a nifty premise and a high dosage of star power to put butts in seats ... or, I suppose in this case, eyeballs in front of digital screens. Once upon a time, a sleek thriller like this could've conceivably aimed for $100 worldwide at the box office while offering some much-needed counterprograming to any leftover blockbuster titles. Instead, "Wolfs" saw its plans for a wide release scuttled unceremoniously, forcing it to settle for a token theatrical run before hitting our digital airwaves — a tone-deaf business decision that transcends any ol' film-snobbery nitpicks and genuinely robs the picture of its big-screen appeal. Critics may have had the luxury of catching this in a theater, as will the few lucky enough to see it during its one-week release in limited theaters, but that hardly feels like a deserving fate.

If that tension between creativity and commerce makes up the noise surrounding the film, it's only fair to note how much it outweighs the stakes (or lack thereof) present within. "Wolfs" is just a little too slick and oily to make its drama feel truly dangerous, or its numerous conflicts to feel like anything more than temporary setbacks. If there's any central storytelling tension, it's a germ of an idea introduced late in the movie about whether the otherwise ruthless fixers have what it takes to complete the job, regardless of potential innocents dying in the process. Watts finds a clever enough resolution to this arc, even if it sometimes feels like he's working his way backwards from a preordained conclusion. In a reminder of how much more self-assured this feels compared to his blockbuster efforts, however, a late scene all but lampoons how complicated and off-the-rails this otherwise tight thriller eventually gets ... and, in one delightful highlight, even puts an abrupt twist on a famous scene from "Collateral." 

Devilish, original, and mercifully brisk, "Wolfs" never overstays its welcome. As a throwback that might be (unfairly) tasked with saving cinema, this can't help but fall short of its lofty ambitions and its various odes to classics gone by. But as a thoroughly modern tweak on the crime thrillers that turned many of us into cinephiles in the first place, this is one long day's journey into night worth seeing through to the end.

/Film Rating: 6.5 out of 10

"Wolfs" will receive a limited theatrical run starting September 20, 2024 before streaming exclusively on Apple TV+ September 27, 2024.