Leofwine_draca The Italian Job is the ill-advised Hollywood remake of the much-loved Michael Caine classic about a gold heist in Italy. Now I, like most people, really enjoyed the original film and I expected that this film wouldn't and couldn't hold a candle to it. Surprise, surprise, it doesn't, although it is a solid action film. This movie can best be thought of as a precursor to the FAST AND THE FURIOUS franchise as it feels very similar to those films. The dialogue is snappy and the action is fast paced, with lots of enjoyable car chases. This and the GONE IN 60 SECONDS remake would make a good double bill.A word on the cast: Edward Norton is ill at ease, making a film he has no interest in, but Mark Wahlberg is a solid enough and charismatic lead. Donald Sutherland is ever the professional and Charlize Theron does well in a star-making turn. The real stand out is Jason Statham as one of the crew; he did well enough to turn his back on ensemble movies for many years, instead making a series of fun action vehicles occasionally more entertaining than this film.

jimbo-53-186511 Charlie Croker (Mark Wahlberg) assembles a crack team to pull off one last job; a daring heist of a safe which contains $35 million dollars worth of gold bars. However, shortly after the heist has been completed, one of the team turns against the others and escapes with the gold and leaves the remaining members of the team for dead. Following this betrayal, Charlie and his crack team which includes computer genius Lyle (Seth Green), explosives expert Left Ear (Mos Def), and getaway driver Handsome Rob (Jason Statham) set to work in recovering the gold back from the 'rat' in the group with the assistance of safe cracker Stella Bridger (Charlize Theron).I saw the 1969 version of The Italian Job some time ago and remember finding it reasonably enjoyable (although I recall it having a rather bizarre ending). However, I have to admit to possibly enjoying this remake/reboot slightly more....I think the biggest strength of this film lies with the characters and their dialogues; as we're introduced to each character we're given a little bit of background information on each character in order to explain away their relevant 'expertise' but it's done in a way that was both funny and clever. I quite liked the way that each character was set-up in this way. I also felt a great sense of camaraderie between the cast; the whole production was done in a very slick and tongue in cheek manner; I thought the scenes between Green and Statham were the funniest and strongest scenes, but the rest of the cast were all great as well.Another big strength with this film is that it's just so much fun; some heists films have a tendency to become over-plotted and throw in twist after twist. However, with the Italian Job we're just given a straight-forward plot, but yet it's still entertaining enough to keep you interested.The chase sequences are fun, the direction, editing and basically all technical areas are also excellent resulting in a film that's not only fun, but it's also quite a good looking film too.Perhaps having low expectations helped here - I thought the original was a good film rather than a great one so I wasn't expecting much here, but the plot moved along almost as fast as the Minis, the script and the camaraderie between the cast were also top notch and above all else it was fun. Definitely worth watching (especially if you were a fan of the original).

manideep deep Over the last few months, I have seen a lot of reviews for The Italian Job, many of them negative. The gist of almost all of these pessimistic criticisms is that, for all its modernistic bravado and high-budget technology, the film doesn't have much substance where it counts. Look, people, it's just a fun movie. This is the type of picture where you're supposed to sit back, relax, and just enjoy the steady-moving pace of the film. Like Ocean's Eleven (2001), you can concentrate on the characters and the plot at the same time without having to do much thinking (lucky for some of us). Granted, "Ocean" is a better movie, but who cares? The plot may have some holes (there's a huge one about 3/4 of the way through), the action may not be as gratifyingly gratuitous as the trailers made it out to be, and some of the dialog may seem pointless and cheesy, but again, who really cares? Cool characters, Mini Coopers, big explosions, Charlize Theron. What more do you want? I think it's time to drop the fake Roger Ebert meets Gene Shalit act and enjoy yourself for once! Oh, and another thing, whatever you do, don't compare it to the original because, to reiterate what F. Gary Gray has told the press a million times, THIS IS NOT A REMAKE!! My advice- if you're interested in nit-picking your way through a good-humored, fun flick, don't even bother seeing The Italian Job. But, if you don't have a severe inferiority complex and/or want to see Ed Norton get jacked by a bunch of Ukranians, go ahead. The Bottom Line, my fellow moviegoers, is: Lighten Up and Have Fun, Dammit.

movie reviews Mindless car chase heist thriller apparently a remake of a much better film. The early film is of course not available on Netflix streaming.Cost 60 million grossed 176 million...Had a black director...so won all kinds of prizes...it was not taut and the filming below average so it gets a 5. Usually in this price range Hollywood can crank out tight beautifully crafted camera work....The idea of repeating the tactics of having the 1 ton safe crash through 2 floors into a canal with a 20 ton armored truck was clever and had a nice touch of covering up the hole made with a sheet of steel...why not make it asphalt covered that would have been even more funny. Having them escape on an Amtrak train made me scratch my head as probably the worst idea they could possibly come up with if this was a real heist. I have yet to take an Amtrak train that was not at least 6 hours late.They must have consumed all their money on the stunts which were quasi believable plus car chases all of which are kind of ho hum any more...controlling traffic lights yawn...Amtrak??? pours cold water on any thing.Add better writers. Tight Hollywood film craft for hard to do angles etc...then it would have got a 6 or even a 7 as normal fareI like this kind of genre but there needs to be some suspense this takes skill and subtlety not dollars...this thing has the twists but they are not scary nor suspenseful---it also has sort of corny humor feel good 50s squareness to it (one gang member dreaming of how he would spend his money wanted a stereo that would blow women's clothes off)--added half a star for that oddity though others might subtract half a star.Read some of the 1 star reviews they are entertaining...this thing doesn't exactly bore but I looked at the time left several times....Recommend? if you have time to kill or a female under 16 apparently the largest audience group...(they thought the male stars hot ????--and I am gay they did zero for me--except maybe the 500 pound guy or the Ukrainians--joke) This is your review, you may delete or edit it.