Stars like George Clooney and Brad Pitt can’t salvage the lifeless Wolfs

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Stars like George Clooney and Brad Pitt can't salvage the lifeless Wolfs

As a seasoned gamer of life, having witnessed countless cinematic adventures, I must say that “Wolfs” left me feeling more like a spectator at a tedious board game than an engaged participant in a thrilling heist flick. The movie’s title might as well have been “Snails,” given the glacial pace it sets from the get-go.

A dead body in a hotel room. That’s the beginning of many crime stories, including the new Jon Watts directorial effort Wolfs. District attorney Margaret (Amy Ryan) has a corpse in her hotel room and she needs it to vanish without her reputation getting dinged. This is where Jack (George Clooney) comes into play. He’s a fixer dressed in all black that can make any problem go away. There’s just one teeny tiny issue: he’s not the only fixer that’s been sent to this scene. The owner of the fancy hotel Margaret is staying at has hired Nick (Brad Pitt) to handle this problem.

Neither Jack nor Nick struggle with teamwork, which is unusual for this line of work. However, circumstances have forced them to jointly handle a situation – disposing of a body together. Unexpectedly, the younger individual, Kid (Austin Abrams), isn’t as deceased as initially thought. He carries a substantial amount of drugs in his backpack that could be linked to a local crime lord. This long December night is proving challenging for these solitary individuals, a fitting title for their movie, “The Lone Wolves.

In a nutshell, “Wolfs” lacks pace and continuity. Brad Pitt and George Clooney, famously known for their roles in the Ocean’s movies of the 2000s, are now starring in a film that couldn’t be more different from those stylish, fast-paced Steven Soderbergh productions. The movie’s main problem lies in its ambiguity. While it’s reasonable for Jack and Nick to keep some parts of their personal lives private given their profession, the film fails to provide any substantial insights into these characters that could explain their strained relationship.

In the movie, it’s not immediately clear if Jack and Nick belong to different age groups or social classes, nor do they exhibit significantly distinct personalities or work methods. Interestingly, in the film’s latter half, the child even makes a humorous observation about their striking similarity. However, their relationship lacks the intrigue that usually comes with contrasting characters. Unfortunately, their frequent exchange of witty comments, while not too dissimilar from each other, becomes quite tiresome. Clooney and Pitt seem to deliver these repetitive quips and tired jokes without much enthusiasm, often resorting to phrases like “Ya got a place?” or simply shouting at the same time when all other humor sources fail. Essentially, Jack and Nick’s dynamic does not offer a consistently engaging spectacle for the full two-hour duration of the film.

The snowy nighttime New York City these criminals inhabit is even more generically defined. It’s absolutely criminal how sterile the Big Apple looks in Wolfs. Countless mesmerizing movies occupy frantic New York City nights realized with deeply tangible cinematography. Think of features like After Hours or Uncut Gems. You can feel the paint peeling or the crusty brick walls in those motion pictures. The real New York’s lived-in quality palpably exists within every frame.

In the meantime, wolves reside in a stark, pristine depiction of snowy New York during the nighttime hours, as director Watts and cinematographer Larkin Seiple capture this production using an Arri Alexa 35 camera, resulting in images that seem too meticulously clean. When Nick and Jack visit a clandestine doctor in an alley, the examination table lacks any dirt or dings. Even a later encounter at a dilapidated hotel for illicit sexual activities teeming with rats and roaches appears slightly too sterile. It all feels overly “polished” and devoid of character. Imperfections give authenticity to the real world, and this principle holds true for fictional movie settings as well.

In the movie, wolves seem to care nothing about flaws or entertainment. Notice the dull costumes and sets scattered everywhere in the film. Not even an encounter with a wedding organized by the powerful Albanian gangster Dimitri (Zlatko Burić) creates any captivating grandeur. The attire and scenery remain as unmemorable as ever. A pervasive lack of energy also seeps into the brief action sequences in “Wolfs”. Even a long chase scene featuring Brad Pitt pursuing a nearly naked young woman shouldn’t be so dull. The arrangement and editing of this sequence manage to make it tedious.

Theodore Shapiro, renowned composer, brings an electrifying creativity to the set of ‘Wolfs’. Over almost three decades, he’s been a preferred choice for light-hearted comedies such as ‘Central Intelligence’ and ‘We’re the Millers’. His talent for darker compositions was evident in the critically acclaimed TV series ‘Severance’ in 2022. In ‘Wolfs’, Shapiro showcases his musical adaptability yet again. Early on, he provides lively pieces featuring instruments like a flute that could have graced a Saul Bass title sequence from the 60s. Later, he adopts a more electronic tone for a crucial chase sequence. The range in Shapiro’s orchestral tracks is delightfully broad. Regrettably, ‘Wolfs’ itself does not seem as willing to push boundaries.

Even Theodore Shapiro would admit, though, that most audiences aren’t going to watch Wolfs for him. The primary selling point for this movie is the reunion of Clooney and Pitt. Unfortunately, neither one delivers very interesting work here. Pitt’s quiet wise-guy routine is mostly shrug-worthy. Clooney’s lead performance, meanwhile, is especially lacking in charm or memorable line deliveries. It’s also frustrating that this movie continues Clooney’s recent trend (between this, Ticket to Paradise, and The Flash) of looking backward in his career. He’s just working with familiar faces from his biggest 2000s hit or playing Bruce Wayne again.

In the lively, captivating films starring George Clooney such as the Ocean’s series or Out of Sight, there’s a strong, creative drive at their core. However, this passionate creativity is missing in Wolfs, a lackluster film directed by Jon Watts. Following four previous movies from Watts (Cop Car and three Spider-Man films), which were characterized by youthful energy, Wolfs disappoints as it features two older men exchanging stale, sarcastic remarks instead of the excitement that earlier Watts works like Cop Car offered. While those earlier films showcased the thrill of driving a cop car or having a superhero identity, the creative spirit in them was vibrant and energetic. Unfortunately, this enthusiasm has been replaced with two men seeming bored on screen, which viewers might find relatable as Clooney and Pitt appear similarly uninterested in Wolfs.

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2024-09-26 19:15