Brad and George in pajamas on the same bed; on a walk; on a motorcycle ride together. The GQ interview was accompanied by a photo shoot, maintained in the convention of a “bromance”. In everyday life, they are good buddies; on screen, an inseparable duo, about whom viewers have gone crazy. Since “Ocean’s Eleven” they have made two sequels to this series, they starred in “Confidential” by the Coen brothers. “Lone Wolves” is their next meeting, provoked by Jon Watts. The chemistry between the gentlemen is transmitted from the screen.
First we hear a voice in the receiver, a moment later he is already there. He walks through the hotel room, looks it over, puts on rubber gloves. He passes a pool of blood, broken glass. On the floor lies the body of a young man. What exactly happened is not important, we have to cover up the tracks and not let the matter come to light.
The number that the woman dialed is worth knowing for a rainy day. Then a specialist in dirty work appears, a professional who will efficiently “clean up” and ensure discretion. So it is that there was a misunderstanding. The order was given to two “cleaners”. Up until now, each worked alone, they do not do well in tandem, now they have to join forces. It will be a long night.
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“Lone Wolves” works on the principle of contrast, the characters are as different as fire and water. Clooney is a professional who keeps a poker face; he has nerves of steel, never showing emotion while working. Pitt is the less bright, hot-headed fury with a short fuse; the lack of a plan is his only plan for life.
The differences between them dominate the film. For about two thirds of the action, the gentlemen compete to see who is better at their craft; they try to prove something to each other, they make excuses and snipe at each other. Normally, such people would jump at each other’s throats, but not this time. Not only will they start to respect each other, but they will also become friends.
Guys of different characters, conflicting personalities, these lead through the next phases of relationship development – attraction and repulsion. We can safely say that this is a film created from scratch. The rules from the textbook buddy moviesthe so-called buddy comedy, are played out in a variety of ways here; Watts knows them by heart.
Apple TV+ / Press Material Brad Pitt and George Clooney in “Lone Wolves”
The sensational intrigue is just a facade, treated as a pretext for presenting the contrast and incompatibility of the characters. Pitt and Clooney frown more than usual, make silly faces at each other, but there are no psychological mechanisms behind it. Watts ignores the gaps and holes in the script, does not ask himself questions about the characters’ past. He does not go back to the moments when they started. He thinks about them rather instrumentally – he flattens their motivations, makes characters without character, without a biography and characteristics.
The most interesting part may be lurking underneath. “Lone Wolves” has another layer, it is a self-referential, doubly coded film. From time to time, age makes itself known: the characters reach for their prescription glasses, their backs ache, their legs ache, they catch their breath. One could risk saying that beneath the sensational comedy of errors there is a film about transience; about the changes that occur inside and outside with the passage of time; about the fact that something irreversibly ends.
Pitt and Clooney represent a generation of Hollywood stars whose fame is not fading, but whose prime is behind them. In an interview for GQ, Clooney recalled that Hollywood producers had put him in the pigeonhole of so-called mature actors. Is one generation leaving to make room for another?
Pitt and Clooney lamented that “Lone Wolves” will have a short life on the big screen — it will go straight from Venice to Apple’s streaming platform. I do not share these moans and laments. Watts’ film is a classic actioner. Shot with a skilled hand, but one hundred percent predictable, in a painfully average edition.
“Lone Wolves” is in a sense comfort moviewith actors with established images, with well-worn tricks, classically led and staged. It will work well in the evening on the couch, between duties – like good old cable action movies.
