I remember back in the early 2000s when George rebooted the Oceans franchise with Steven Soderbergh on board to direct. They assembled a nice supporting cast to fill out the other roles besides Danny Ocean which Clooney played.  In the course of making these films, I noticed Clooney and Brad Pitt having pretty good chemistry with one another. It makes sense they would work together again in their latest film Wolfs by writer/director Jon Watts.

Margaret (Amy Ryan) is a DA in New York. After a meeting, she decides to get a hotel room at an exclusive hotel. On the way up to her room getting on an elevator, she passes a young man. She asks the kid (Austin Abrams) if he wants to come up to her room with her. They hang out and party together until things go south. The kid falls over onto a beverage cart. She assumes he’s dead and calls a number she was given by a friend for instances like these. The man she gets a hold of is Jack (George Clooney), he gives her explicit instructions to follow before he gets there. Once he gets to the hotel room he asks her a few questions until another knock at the door surprises them both. Another man, Nick (Brad Pitt) who is dressed similarly to Clooney’s character is perplexed as to why there are two “Wolfs” for the same cleanup operation. An eye in the sky explains all though.

Clooney and Bitt have good chemistry in this film. Their banter and quips at one another are funny. With their characters being such serious men they don’t have the chance to be as funny as they’ve been in the past. They know each other well though and it shows on screen. This situation that their in lends itself to some funny scenes. The further along this story goes though the more open and funnier they get in their performances.  Their many experiences as actors show that this is easy work for them. They’ve put in the miles and now they’re just sitting back and taking it easy. This is a cakewalk for these two seasoned pros.

Besides the funny banter and chemistry between Clooney and Pitt, there are a couple of other things about this film that I loved. Without giving away spoilers I will say there is a hilarious car chase in the middle of this movie. The car chase involves a person being chased by a car and Pitts’ character chasing on foot. If you told me a person would outrun a car and Brad Pitt for fifteen minutes I would tell you your nuts, but that’s what happens. This was a hilarious scene in a pretty serious story.

Another scene I thought was done very well is the ending of the movie. One character has to deliver a package and all hell breaks out instead. The culmination of all the odd plot things like a goofy dance sequence at a nightclub and so forth all lead to this ending that wasn’t what I expected. Watts delivered an ending that was crazy and full of wild gunfights and showdowns between the Albanians, Russians, and the two main characters. Sometimes the ending of movies can be a letdown, but this one wasn’t.

I know a lot of people are familiar with the Wolf from Pulp Fiction played by Harvey Keitel. He was such a cool character under pressure and I loved the way he handled himself. Wolf’s takes the Lone Wolf mantra and runs with it nicely. Using Clooney and Pitt in the main roles added a nice thing to an interesting premise. They show how easy it is for them to work together on screen. The rest of the movie was good, but it was them that made this concept work for Watts.  That’s why I’d recommend it to everybody on Apple TV Plus.

3 ½ stars

Dan  Skip Allen