Though it bears little resemblance to the original 1969 thriller starring Michael Caine, the 2003 remake of The Italian Job stands on its own as a caper comedy that's well above average. The title's a misnomer--this time it's actually a Los Angeles job--but the action's just as exciting as it propels a breezy tale of honor and dishonor among competing thieves. Inheriting Caine's role as ace heist-planner Charlie Croker, Mark Wahlberg plays straight-man to a well-cast team of accomplices, including Mos Def, Jason Statham, and scene-stealer Seth Green in a variation of the role originally played by Noel Coward. As the daughter of Croker's ill-fated mentor (Donald Sutherland), Charlize Theron is recruited to double-cross a double-crosser (Edward Norton in oily villain mode), and once again, speedily versatile Mini Coopers play a pivotal role in director F. Gary Gray's exhilarating car-chase climax. It's perhaps the greatest product placement in movie history, and just as fun the second time around. --Jeff Shannon
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: I will probably watch it again Comment: A bunch of thieves steal a lot of gold but they get double-crossed and the rest of the movie is the double-crossed thieves working hard at double-crossing the 'bad' thief guy with help from the not-a-thief daughter of the daddy-thief (a good guy) who got wasted during the violent phase of the initial double-crossing. This is good because the daughter is Charlize Theron and she's always a pretty woman.
Why would those who stole a ton of gold be 'good' but the guy who betrayed them was 'bad'... I'm not so sure I understand but... whatever. There are maybe a couple more plot twists but I'm not going to spoil anyone the pleasure.
The main attraction is the Mini race - the Mini is a British-made car that's small but spunky - but I didn't find it too exciting. Another attraction is a hacker person who disrupts traffic in LA. There is also a not so fast speed boats race in Venice.
That's about it.
I can't believe I'm giving this movie 3 stars but, the fact is that, after I watched this movie on TV a couple of years ago and I decided it was not a top-of-the-line flick, I still bought the Blu-ray from Amazon (pre-owned). Chances are, I will watch it again some day when I have nothing else better to do so, there is some value in it. Customer Rating: Summary: One of my favorites from Summer 2003 Comment: The Italian Job was the thrid best movie I saw back in summer 2003. After the below par A Man Apart, F. Gary Gray redeems himself with this slick hesit film. The problem with Gray's last film was the script and given the right material Gray shows his talent as a director , hence his work in his previous films The Negotiator and Set It Off. The Italian Job sharp and witty written by Donna & Wayne Powers is a huge improvement over the previous film Valentine, the Powers duo get great performances out of everyone in the cast from the star Mark Wahlberg to Franky G. Walhberg and his team which consit of Mos Def, Seth Green and Jason Statham decide to reccuit Charlize Theron to bring the evil Ed Norton. The trailer pretty much gives away the plot of the film so I won't ruin it here but the film is a lot of fun and considering the lack of gun battle violence that's really suprising. Seth Green and Mos Def are real scene stealers as always and Wahlberg has great chemistry with everyone in the cast. My advice go see this movie and just have a good time. Customer Rating: Summary: It's a so so job. No suspense. Action scenes are average. The tiny cars look cute. Comment: It's a so so job. There's no suspense. The action scenes are average. The tiny cars look cute. I would not want to watch it twice. Customer Rating: Summary: Blu-ray review Comment: This is in regard to the Blu-ray version of this movie. The film itself is quite enjoyable and worth watching. I bought the BR edition of this a few days ago, the menus and all look good, no problems there. The problem came in when I started watching the film itself...in the very first shot I could tell that something wasn't right. The picture quality was grainy and awful, it was annoying. I took it out and put in one of my other Blu-ray movies(thinking maybe my player was acting up) but it looked great. I bought it new so I don't know why it would look like that. Some parts (very few) looked the way they should, but mostly the picture was worse than most standard DVDs I've seen. So, I give the Blu-ray version one star, the movie itself I give four stars. Customer Rating: Summary: Good action movie Comment: High action movie keeps you at the end of the seat. Its one of the best collection in my library.
