A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

The Evaluation System Reviews by Title Reviews by Date

Reviews from Video Reviews of the Classics Personal Background

Title: The Italian Job (2003)

Date Viewed: 7/5

Details:

Mark Wahlberg

Charlize Theron

Donald Sutherland

Jason Statham

Seth Green

Mos Def

Edward Norton

Director: F. Gary Gray

Score: +

The Review: A caper gone right, but a team gone wrong -- and you'll never look at the Cooper Mini in quite the same way.

The primary caper starts out in Venice, and consumes a goodly amount of reasonably exciting screen time. It's Charlie's (Wahlberg) first time leading an op, and senior member John Bridger (Sutherland) is as proud as if Charlie had been his own son. But things go wrong (even the naive viewer knows this from having watched several months worth of previews and trailers -- why do they have to do this?!). Eventually, for the final two-thirds of the movie, Charlie enlists Stella Bridger (Theron, playing a professional safe-cracker on the other side of the law) into a revenge caper to steal back the loot from the renegade team member (Norton) who killed her father. "It's not about the money..."

Excellent opening credits that set the mood, with some clever cinematography and scene cuts. Good pacing -- not always fast & high-speed, although there's certainly enough of that, but (as with any good caper film) the planning too is always an integral part of the plotting.

Remake of the original 1969 movie starring Michael Caine and Noel Coward, which also used (the original) Mini's, but preferred the sewers of Turin.

(5-Jul-05)

Back to the chronological list of reviews