The Italian Job (2003)

Home
Smell the Movies
Smell the TV

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Year:	2003
Country of origin:	USA / France / UK
Director:	F. Gary Gray
Genre:	Heist movie 'reinvention'
Starring:	Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Donald Sutherland, Edward Norton, Mos Def, Seth Green, Jason Statham
Rating:	4/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317740/
Tagline:	Get in. Get out. Get even.
Favourite line:	"Well you can call me The Napster."

An American remake of a British classic, this shares little in common with the source material save for the iconic Mini in sewers scenes and the general set-up of the endgame.

The action starts off in Venice, as Mark Wahlberg, Ed Norton, Donald Sutherland and posse are in the middle of planning a heist of a safe, making use of SCUBA diving gear, myriad boats and a safe crashing through the floor of a building.
It's high concept stuff and utterly implausible, but it is highly entertaining neverteless. The plan goes smoothly, right up until the point of escape when Norton's character goes turncoat, betraying them and scarpering with the loot, putting several bullets into Sutherland's Bridger in the process.
Skip forward a year, and the surviving members of the gang have tracked him down to L.A. and, as well as revenge, they want their gold.

Part heist movie, part Bond-alike, this is relentlessly entertaining, dragging you along with the sheer energy of it, even as you find yourself protesting that 'this eh nuffin' layk the origgunal.'
I think it's fair to say that this was 'inpsired' by the source film, rather than attempting to remake it directly.
An accomplished actioner, then, that will no doubt infuriate the purists amongst you. And that's a good thing.