The Italian Job: 2003, dir. F. Gary Gray. Seen on DVD (Jan 24).
Warning: I’m going to reveal a bunch of stuff about the plot of this movie, so if you haven’t seen it and don’t want to know, don’t read this.
The Italian Job was almost a good movie. It was entertaining, and I enjoyed watching it, but I couldn’t help seeing ways in which it might have been so much better.
As my boyfriend pointed out, you knew something was wrong because the movie went downhill as soon as Donald Sutherland died, which was about 10 minutes into the film. In fact, I knew Sutherland’s character was going to die very early, although I can’t say if I’d heard that in a movie review or if it was blatantly obvious from the structure of the opening sequences and the position of his credit. Knowing that he was going to die, strongly suspecting someone would kill him, but not knowing who or when—this added suspense to the beginning of the movie, which was a little cluttered and confusing and needed some help.
The biggest difficulty I had with The Italian Job was Mark Wahlberg, who has the charisma of a baked potato. It’s not that he was a bad actor, it’s that he had absolutely not one iota of screen presence, or charm, or anything interesting. Compare him with George Clooney in Ocean’s Eleven. This movie needed a younger George Clooney … or a younger Michael Caine, natch. Someone who could believably mastermind major heists, charm Charlize Theron’s character, and captivate the audience, without throwing the casting off balance by being a major movie star. Ewan MacGregor might have been able to carry it off, or perhaps Colin Farrell. I don’t know why they keep casting Mr. Bland Wahlberg in these roles, but it’s time to find someone else.
The characters were just a little too stereotypical, which is a bad thing particularly if you’ve been watching a lot of heist/caper/con movies and have seen all these guys before. Here’s the computer geek who can do anything with a keyboard but is clumsy and socially idiotic in real life. Here’s the black demolitions expert. Blah, blah, blah. Maybe if you haven’t ever seen a caper film in your life, you would find all of this novel and entertaining. If you just watched Ocean’s Eleven (the recent one) a few weeks ago, this is a bit of a snooze.
The product placement in this movie was overt and annoying. First of all, the Mini Cooper thing. A friend of mine has a Mini and yes, they’re cool, and they’re integral to the plot, but sometimes I felt like I was watching a very effective Mini commercial. Every computer was a Dell and the logo was prominent. There was a big old Pepsi ad on a truck. A Staples store figured prominently in the deleted scenes (which would have bogged the movie down still more … it was very easy to see why they were deleted).
That’s not to say that The Italian Job was dull to watch. The Mini chase scenes were fun, Charlize Theron was surprisingly watchable, and Edward Norton was very good (apparently filling a contractual obligation with Paramount against his inclination). Hell, Edward Norton could have played Wahlberg’s role. Maybe it could have been a dual role, they could have been twins, it would have added an interesting plot twist.
The Italian Job was more of a caper film than a heist film, in that you knew none of the major characters were going to die (once they offed Sutherland, that is). There wasn’t much sense of danger. Everything was just a little too easy—plot to steal gold thwarted? Never mind, they could cook up an even better one in 24 hours. Want to get a truck? Just paint some explosive in the sewers, futz with the traffic lights, and you can get the truck to magically position itself exactly over the little explosive-painted square of road. Again, we might believe this amazing power to mastermind crimes from a more charismatic, classy leader.
I’d like to see the 1969 The Italian Job, although apparently the writers of this remake didn’t actually remake the movie. They wrote the screenplay without spending much time studying (or seeing) the original. However, I got seriously burned seeing the original Ocean’s 11, which was truly boring and slow and awful, so I’m not sure I want to take such a chance again.
I can say this with confidence: The Italian Job (2003) was a lot better than Ocean’s 11 (1960).
But Seth Green! He was perfect. His character made a slighly dull movie so enjoyable I had to add it to my collection.
Mos Def was very good, as well, as Left Ear. And I love Smooth Rob, the actor I can never remember. He’s just got some presence to him, that subtle air of menace and charm that’s so cool!
Yes, Mr. Wahlberg I could have done without. However, you need to have a rather bland guy as the lead. This is an ensemble, and his only job, his ONLY job, is to pull the others together. He does that fairly well.
I think Edward Norton in that role would have been TOO interesting. He makes a better villian.
And this is one of the few movies I’ve seen lately with an interesting car chase scene. I think that had totally to do with the coopers.
The original is worth a look – it’s with Micheal Caine and Noel Coward, and thoroughly charming in a very British way.
this film is trash
It was too hard for me to believe either Mark Wahlberg or Charlize Theron as masterminds, or having minds.