The Italian Job
(Click here for
Internet Movie Database entry)
The Italian Job is yet
another remake, this time of a 1969
film starring Michael Caine. Both films involve a guy named Charlie
Croker who steals a bunch of gold in Italy using several Mini Coopers
and a traffic jam. In the new film, Charlie (Mark Wahlberg) and his
mentor (Donald Sutherland) are planning the big heist along with the usual
gang of misfits (Seth Green, Mos Def, Jason Statham). Everything goes
great until another member of their gang (Edward Norton) doublecrosses them,
steals the gold and kills Sutherland. This is all in the trailer and
happens in the first ten minutes of the movie. The real plot follows
Charlie and his gang, along with Sutherland's daughter (Charlize Theron),
as they try to get the gold back and wreak revenge on Norton. This is where
the Mini Coopers
and the traffic jam come in.
The Italian Job is the latest in a recent series
of heist movies, Ocean's Eleven,
Heist, The Good Thief. It's pretty
good but there's not much to it besides the usual twisty plan for the heist.
There's not a whole lot of character development although Norton makes
things interesting as usual. Wahlberg and Theron are supposed to be
falling in love as they get their revenge but they don't so much as kiss
even at the end of the movie. Sutherland is only around for ten minutes but
does a good job of playing Donald Sutherland. Wahlberg is his usual lugubrious
self. The only movie where he seems to be having a good time is last
year's, The Truth About Charlie.
And Theron, you know what I'm going to say, looks good. It's
not that she can't act. She can. But she always looks like a glamorous movie
star and not a character in a movie.
This movie is not nearly as fun as Ocean's Eleven nor does it have
some nice characters like The
Good Thief. But it's still entertaining and I'm sure you'll want
to see the Mini Coopers
and the traffic jam! Ok, maybe this is a rental.
