How to resolve AdBlock issue? - Tim Riley
- Posted On
‘Wolfs’ unites known commodities for an offbeat thriller
“WOLFS” Rated R on Apple TV+
As some may surmise that the incipient decline and potentially eventual doom of network and cable television might actually be a thing, streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime may strive even harder to satisfy the need for home entertainment.
These two behemoths of streaming options may be challenged to a greater extent in the future, but for now Apple TV+, approaching the fifth anniversary of its launch in 2019, is impressive for its catalog and ongoing production of original television and films.
During television press tours, critics have witnessed Apple TV’s presence at our biannual meetings to tout their new programs, and only this past winter was there an ostensible “executive session” that served not much greater purpose other than to recap past hits and provide a quick preview.
But who really needs executives spewing the party line like Baghdad Bob when the product speaks for itself? Apple TV+ has delivered popular hits like “Ted Lasso” and “Slow Horses” along with Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks’ limited series “Masters of the Air.”
What could Apple TV+ do to generate more traffic than pick up the crime thriller film “Wolfs,” starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney in roles as incognito fixers who seem to require little more than acting like they did in “Ocean’s Eleven” and the two sequels that followed?
Apparently, “Wolfs” had a very limited theatrical run that seemed to escape widespread public notice, at least because of the telltale sign that the box office receipts weren’t found on a website devoted to imparting that information.
Would signing up for Apple TV+ be worth the cost just to view “Wolfs” at home? The answer depends on how much you want to see Brad Pitt and George Clooney as rivals who wink, banter and trash-talk for just shy of two hours.
“Wolfs” is a bit convoluted in its plot and storyline of a thriller tinged with comedic elements that come from Pitt and Clooney, whose characters’ names are never revealed, bickering over their assigned roles in a messy clean-up operation.
The film opens with Amy Ryan’s Margaret, a district attorney with a public image to protect, distraught over the fact that she’s in a luxury New York hotel suite with the body of a half-naked, presumably dead young man.
In a situation like this, high-profile people resort to hiring a professional to clean up the mess to cover the tracks of what would be a scandal not only for Margaret but also a hotel seeking to avoid bad publicity.
Enter Clooney’s fixer with a luggage cart and a duffel bag of considerable size to save the day. Wearing surgical gloves, Clooney seeks to calm his client with a stiff drink, reassuring her that he has everything under control.
But then things get interesting when Pitt’s nameless character shows up, knocking on the door, at the behest of the unseen hotel owner, Pam (the voice of Frances McDormand), as a matching fixer. That the situation was captured on a hidden camera creates another puzzle.
The hotel room scene includes blood and broken glass, with the body of a character only referred to as Kid (Austin Abrams) on the floor, who is presumed to be a male prostitute, contrary to the protests of Margaret who insists otherwise.
Awkwardly, Clooney and Pitt have no choice than to work together, which results in two leading men with easy charm to trade oblique glances and sarcastically whimsical insults.
The body disposal gets more complicated in a number of ways, and more so than the discovery that Kid had a backpack with bricks of heroin presumably belonging to some crime lord.
As the action goes, a chase through Chinatown is exhausting for everyone, followed later with Clooney and Pitt crashing a wedding party. An intense shootout with Albanian or Croation (who can be sure?) gangsters a burst of unexpected violence.
For lack of a better description, “Wolfs” is disposable entertainment, one that has a glossy superficial appeal but ultimately is as forgettable as watching a Chicago White Sox game as the team flails away at setting a record for the most losses ever in a season for a major league baseball team.
The best bet for watching Brad Pitt and George Clooney at their finest as a team for a thriller is to watch “Ocean’s Eleven” for their gold standard of a snarky buddy film. You can skip the sequels.
Nevertheless, it’s fair to say that Pitt and Clooney acquit themselves decently enough as their initial hostility, driven by some nice rebukes, gradually fades to a grudgingly joint effort that makes the whole enterprise reasonably watchable.
A nice touch comes near the end when Clooney says to his fellow fixer, “I never did catch your name,” and Pitt’s reply about surviving a shootout hints a sequel could be in the works. Nothing is certain, but if there is a next installment, it should be a more sophisticated caper.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
