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The Italian Job (Widescreen Edition) Customer Reviews (16 - 18 of 47 Reviews)

Fast paced suspenseful action...
Charlie Croker (Mark Wahlberg) has planned a gold heist with a group of professionals in Venice, Italy, that displays his sophisticated style without using violence. In order to accomplish the heist Croker has asked the old-timer John Bridger (Donald Sutherland) to help crack the safe in which the gold is located. They get safely away with a large amount of gold, however, Steve (Edward Norton) has decided to keep all the gold for himself and kill the rest of the group. Steve shoots John while the rest of the group escapes, but they decide on settling the score with Steve as they decide to take the gold back with the help of John's daughter Stella (Charlize Theron). The Italian Job is a fun and suspenseful action film with car chases and dubious schemes, which leaves the audience with a good cinematic experience.

It's Not About The Money
The Italian Job is a very loose remake of a 1969 caper film that originally starred actor Michael Caine. While I was watching this more action oriented updated version, I had the distinct feeling that director F. Gary Gray was trying to follow the style of Soderbergh's remake of Ocean's 11, while giving the film a harder edge then the 1969 film had. I wish he decided on one way to take it, instead, he split too many hairs to tell his story.

John Bridger (Donald Sutherland) is an aging thief. Bridger leads a rag tag bunch to help him pull off one last job in Italy. After the job is finished, he intends to hand over the job as leader, to his protege`Charlie Croker (Mark Wahlberg). John hopes to be able to spend more time with his daughter Stella (Charlize Theron), as well as, his share of the stash. After the job is successfully executed. John is killed by a trusted member of the team, named Steve. (Edward Norton) The others are left for dead. The rest of the film is a game of wits between Steve and the team, under Charlie's leadership, as they plan to teach him a lesson

I have to admit the action scenes were well planned and executed in the film. However, as far as the plot is concerned, it was very predictable. The film's humor, editing style, and music, just took their "cues" from the aforementioned Ocean's 11. Gray and the writers also decided their had to be some drama as well. Sadly, these moments come across as forced, and unreal. I wish someone had stuck to making the movie either a true caper or a drama. The 2 genres have a hard time mixing with one another.

The one saving ingredient for me here, is actor Seth Green as the resident computer geek, Lyle. His dry delivery livens up any film he does. Theron gets points for being as great looking as ever; For his part Wahlberg is good, but he's been better in other roles.

The Itailian Job is a film that does tries hard to be all things. In the end it can only muster up a ** star rating from me.

The best crime caper that I've seen since "Ocean's Eleven"!!
Even though I never really seen the original 1969 version of "The Italian Job" with Michael Caine, this explosive 2003 remake is, hands down, the best crime film that I've seen since the 2001 remake of "Ocean's Eleven", especially since "The Italian Job" has suspense at every twist and turn, compelling and daring escapes, and excellent cinematography! The hard-edged direction of F. Gary Gray ("The Negotiator") was nothing short of excellent! The talents of Mark Wahlberg ("Planet of the Apes"), Charlize Theron ("The Devil's Advocate"), Edward Norton ("The Score"), Seth Green (The "Austin Powers" films), Jason Statham ("The Transporter", "Snatch"), Mos Def ("Brown Sugar"), and Donald Sutherland ("A Time to Kill") were top-notch, powerful, and commanding!

This remake of the 1969 film focuses on career criminal Charlie Croker (Wahlberg) and his team: computer expert Lyle (Green), wheelman Handsome Rob (Statham), explosives expert Left Ear (Mos Def), and inside man Steve (Norton). Along with Charlie's mentor/veteran safecracker John Bridger (Sutherland), the team has successfully pulled off a daring heist at a heavily guarded palazzo in Venice, Italy. The prize: $35 million worth of gold bullion! After a clean getaway, Charlie and the crew experienced a threat that they never saw coming...a double-crosser! As it turns out, Steve just happened to be the double-crosser! And the end result: The death of John Bridger and leaving the rest of the team for dead as well! A year later, Charlie and the team find Steve in Los Angeles and they decide to get some long-awaited revenge, but they couldn't do it alone. This is where John Bridger's daughter, Stella (Theron), comes into the picture. Stella is an expert safecracker with nerves of steel like her father, and the murder of her father provides much of the drive for the conflict of the film. Stella reluctantly joins Charlie and the gang as they come up with a brilliantly smart and devious plan. The plan: To re-steal the gold by tapping into L.A.'s traffic control system and manipulate signals, thus creating one of the biggest traffic jams in L.A.'s history! Also included in the plan is that once they have reclaimed the gold, they can get away in their speedy, but versatile, Mini Cooper automobiles, which are small enough to drive on sidewalks so they can make a clean getaway before the massive traffic jam clears. Like Charlie says in the film, "We'll do it like the Italian Job." Because you see, this isn't about the money. This isn't about payoff. It's about payback!

In conclusion, "The Italian Job" has lots of action, harrowing suspense, brilliant stuntwork, lots of surprises, and outstanding performances from a top-notch cast! This is, by far, a DVD must-have to your crime caper collection! If you love movies such as this, then look no further than "The Italian Job"!

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