Aahana Swrup
Directed by Jon Watts, Apple TV+’s action comedy film ‘Wolfs’ centers on two men, experts at the task of cleaning up crimes, who begrudgingly undertake an unexpected “errand” together. After an unfortunate incident involving an influential official and a dead body unfolds in Hotel Delon in New York City, a fixer (George Clooney) receives a call seeking his unique “tidying” services. Unexpectedly, another mysterious man (Brad Pitt) with the same profession is also summoned to the scene. Consequently, once the night takes an unforeseen turn with the discovery that the dead man isn’t really dead and is also moving several bricks of cocaine, the two fixers have no choice but to work together.
The film mainly takes place over the course of one night, depicting the tale of the two men who gradually learn to trust and enjoy each other’s company. Meanwhile, the plot that backlights the film’s emotional center remains full of riddles and cryptic motivations, submerging the protagonists in a consistent unpredictability. Hence, even when answers arrive with the break of dawn, viewers are bound to be left with a few questions of their own! SPOILERS AHEAD.
Wolfs Plot Synopsis
Margaret, a New York District Attorney, finds herself in a predicament after the young guy she invites to her hotel room for the evening ends up apparently dead on her bedroom floor. With no solution in sight, she calls a number an unrevealed acquaintance gave her for crucial emergencies. As a result, she reaches out to a man known for “fixing” legally precarious situations like the one she is in right now. Once the man has ensured her credibility, he arrives at the scene to orchestrate the perfect cover-up. Shortly after Margaret’s man arrives, another guy appears at her door. As it turns out, the high-profile hotel has a camera installed in the room, which has tipped off the hotel owner, Pam, about Margaret’s predicament.
Since Pam doesn’t want her hotel to be subjected to bad press due to Margaret’s incident, she also calls a fixer of her own. Over a phone call, the two women agree that they want both men working on the case to fix their common problem. Naturally, both fixers, inherent lone wolves on account of their jobs, immediately try to get out of the deal. Nevertheless, as Margaret points out to her man that the hotel owner has the footage of him at the crime scene, Pam manages to convince her guy. Thus, both men reluctantly agree to work together.
Surprisingly enough, during the clean-up of the hotel room, Pam’s man stumbles upon a backpack full of cocaine bricks, which further complicates the situation. Margaret’s fling was probably transporting drugs for a gang, and it’s likely that in his absence, the gang may trace their stash back to the hotel. Consequently, the fixers decide to track the dealer somehow and return the cocaine. Fortunately, once Margaret’s man deposits the dead body into the trunk of his car, a second surprise awaits them that helps with their new problem. Somehow, they have mistakenly assumed the young man in Margaret’s room to be dead, but the “Kid” is actually alive.
Thus, the two fixers decide to take the Kid to a shady doctor, who is called by Pam’s man when the other guy’s associate fails to pick up the phone. Funnily enough, once they arrive in Chinatown, where the doctor, June, runs her business, they realize they work with the same underground physician. Once in her clinic, the Kid escapes from the fixers’ hold, leading to an intense chase throughout Chinatown. Nevertheless, in the end, the fixers catch and successfully interrogate him for information regarding the drugs.
Margaret and Pam’s men discover that the Kid has accidentally gotten stuck transporting drugs for Lagrange, a high-profile dealer in the area. After a short run-in with a Croatian boss named Dimitri, the fixers and the Kid glean the dropout location from a hidden pager. As such, the only thing left to do for the fixers is to wipe their hands off the drugs and the Kid. However, as the night progresses, the two realize things are seldom that straightforward.
Wolfs Ending: Does Margaret’s Man Kill the Kid?
From the get-go, Margaret’s man sports the same singular motive: cleaning up his client’s night to make it seem like nothing has ever been out of sorts. Consequently, alongside cleaning up the hotel room and taking care of the drugs, his job is also to ensure the Kid who almost died in Margaret’s room doesn’t remain a problem for her reputation. As such, killing the Kid is the only foolproof way to accomplish that mission. However, over the course of their adventures—from chasing the Kid down Chinatown to recovering the pager from Club Ice—Margaret’s man grows fond of the younger man.
The Kid’s earnestness remains his defining feature throughout the film—sometimes painfully so. As a result, after witnessing his vulnerability in the sketchy motel and later outside Club Ice, Margaret’s man can’t help but grow soft toward him. For the same reason, instead of getting his hands bloodied, he decides to take the easy way out and let the problem take care of itself. The two fixers know that if they let the Kid enter the drop site himself to finish the transaction, he would likely not leave the place alive.
Margaret’s man decides to take the same course of action. Even so, Pam’s man attempts to give him another way out by offering to kill the Kid himself. It’s a noticeably kind offer—especially considering the slowly simmering but present rivalry between the two. Still, Margaret’s man chooses to keep maximum distance from the Kid’s death and allows him to walk into the drop site alone. However, soon after, a surprise appearance from the Albanian gang—from whom Lagrange had stolen the drugs to begin with—quickly sends the entire situation south.
Along with the Albanians, Dimitri’s men also appear at the location. The Croatian gangster has worked separately with both Margaret and Pam’s men in the past. Therefore, when his bodyguard realizes that the two are working together, he believes that the friendship is a threat to his boss. Due to the same reason, he tries to kill the pair. Nevertheless, the two fixers are able to fight off the Croatians and decide against abandoning the third in their reluctant trio. Yet, as Margaret and Pam’s men enter the drop location to save the Kid’s life, they realize he has already managed to survive the bloodbath between Lagrange’s clients and the Albanians by hiding in the trunk of a car.
Ultimately, the fixers decide against needlessly killing the Kid since their time together has intrinsically changed something about both men’s recluse mindset. The young man survives and gets dropped off at his home with a warning against running his mouth about his wild night.
How Were Margaret and Pam’s Men Set Up?
After dropping the Kid off at his house, Margaret and Pam’s men go out for breakfast together in the early morning hours. Funnily enough—though this has become a pattern for them now—their ideal diner is the exact same place. While the two fixers intentionally eating a meal together is already surprising enough, yet another bombshell awaits them. As the two talk about why they decided against giving up on the job despite the required teamwork, Margaret’s man stumbles across a startling realization: both the fixers work for the same person. As it turns out, the “Guy” who suggested the fixer to Margaret has been offering assignments to Pam’s fixer.
Because of this revelation, the entire picture comes out in the open. The whole mission, which has been presented as a large coincidence, was actually a devised set-up. After Lagrange stole the drugs from the Albanians, he knew he was putting a target on his own back. For the same reason, he made Diego, the Kid’s college mate, trick him into making the cocaine run. From there, he pulled a few more strings through strategic observance of Margaret, the DA, and schemed for her paths to “coincidentally” cross with the Kid. As a result, the drug dealer was able to get disreputable footage of the DA through the hotel’s security camera—which the viewers get to glimpse at during the credits. Lagrange planned on using this footage against Margaret to earn a leg-up against the Albanians.
However, during Margaret and the Kid’s meeting, something unexpected happens: the Kid passes out in a way that makes him seem dead. There, Lagrange’s original plan evolves, introducing the fixers into the mix. As the DA and the hotel owner call their respective fixers, Lagrange finds the perfect opportunity to concoct a new scheme with the handler. The Guy who handles the two fixers and Lagrange both want the Albanian gang dead. As such, they come up with the plan to use Margaret and Pam’s men to move the drugs so that they would get caught up in the firefight between the Albanians and Lagrange’s buyers.
By doing so, Lagrange and the Guy believed they would get rid of the Albanians, with the fixers also getting cleaned up as collateral damage. For the same reason, they ensured that the Albanians would arrive at the drop location by being mindful of the tracker inside the cocaine bricks. Since Lagrange and The Guy have blackmail material on the DA—Margaret’s evening with the Kid—they can further wipe their hands off the entire ordeal by bending a few rules.
The Guy’s plan relies on his assumption that Margaret and Pam’s men would choose to go in themselves rather than send the Kid in. Even though he had correctly assumed that the two would grow fond of the Kid, he had miscalculated their timing. As a result, although the bloodbath between the Albanians and Lagrange’s buyers happens, Margaret and Pam’s men don’t become part of it. Therefore, in the end, they are able to walk away from the experience alive and figure out the Guy’s set-up. Yet, the latter has one more trick up his sleeve. Well-versed in the habits of both fixers, the handler knows they will be at the breakfast diner the next morning. Thus, he sends in a group of armed killers to surround the establishment and finish the job of cleaning up Margaret and Pam’s men once and for all.
Do The Fixers Survive?
On the heels of the realization that the Guy set them up, the fixers find themselves surrounded by their doom on all sides. The handler was already eager to have the two fixers wiped clean off the board. As such, the newfound connection between Margaret and Pam’s men has given him further reason to ensure their fall. Throughout the film, the lone-wolfish nature of the two fixers remains a crucial aspect of their lives. Due to the same reason, both are reluctant to work with each other, worried that the other may steal their moves. Nevertheless, through their coveted solitude, both developed a deep loneliness.
Thus, as Margaret and Pam’s men spend more and more time in each other’s startlingly similar presence, they realize they can have a possible treasured connection with each other. Yet, now that connection has become the final nail in the coffin of their doom. Even so, neither man is one to run away from a fight. Therefore, as the Guy’s hired men surround the outside of the diner, ready to open fire, Margaret and Pam’s men ready their own weapons to fight back—together, as a unit.
Although the film ends before making the predicaments of the two fixers clear, it establishes their desire to get to know each other better if they survive this incident. The same becomes a monumentally climactic beat in their story, signifying how far they have come together. Even though the two are initially cagey about their techniques, they have now decided to share their names with each other in the aftermath of the upcoming fight.
The two fixers most likely survive the encounter and walk into a new way of life as crime fixers together, especially since Apple TV+ already announced the sequel to the action comedy with George Clooney and Brad Pitt on board. However, even if the viewers choose to believe in a gloomier ending and decide the two die in the diner at their handler’s hand, the reality of the unexpected and life-changing connection Margaret and Pam’s men find in each other persists.
Read More: What Are the Names of Brad Pitt and George Clooney in Wolfs? Why Do They Remain Nameless?
