Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

classicalsteve Ever since the brilliant remake of "Ocean's Eleven" with Clooney, Damon, Cheadle, et al, heist films have been in vogue. There are about two or three per year since circa 2001, a few have been outstanding, most are about average, and a few are duds. They are entertaining, more or less, but sometimes they rely on too many known plot devices. Some of the exceptional ones include the first "Ocean's Eleven" film (not the Sinatra one), "Inside Man", one of the cleverest of such films, and "The Score" (also with Edward Norton, by the way), which keeps you guessing all the way. (If you want to see a really great heist film set in Victorian England, I suggest "The Great Train Robbery" with Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland produced in the 1970's.) Some average but descent fair include "Tower Heist", and "The Art of the Steal". Among the less memorable ones include both of the "Ocean's Eleven" sequels, "Ocean's Twelve" and "Ocean's Thirteen", and the remake of "Fun with Dick and Jane". The present film, "The Italian Job", despite a few nice moments, fits into the middle category of being marginally enjoyable but not great.Mark Wahlberg plays Charlie Croker, an up-and-coming sophisticated thief who uses high tech to achieve his plundering aspirations. His mentor is older thief John Bridger (Donald Sutherland) who helps him plan for a heist to lift $35 million in gold from a safe which happens to be in the hands of the Italian Mafia in Venice, Italy. Like Ocean's Eleven, they use a team of safe-crackers and embezzlers who enact the theft. Everything goes as planned, almost too easy, until after the heist is completed, everything goes wrong.Without giving away what happens exactly, the thieves lose the gold, which is possibly the best part of the film, The film then focuses on about the thieves finding out where the gold resides and how to retrieve it while also getting revenge on those who stole the gold from them which was stolen originally from the Italian Mafia, who also must have stolen it from other people. They also solicit the help of Bridge's daughter, a crackerjack safe-cracker, to lift the gold. The film then uses a lot of Ocean's Eleven-type devices, describing each of the henchmen which will be involved in the heist to retrieve the gold lost from the original heist.While the film has a couple of unexpected twists, particularly at the beginning, unfortunately it lapses back into tried and true formulas. There's lots of the standard car chases, some subplots and a few characters get "offed" for their troubles. Despite the shortcomings, Edward Norton offers a stellar performance in the clothes of one of the most ruthless characters I've ever seen him play. His performance saves the film. At the same time, I felt some of the other characters were rather flat, especially Mark Wahlberg as the Danny Ocean equivalent in "The Italian Job". Sometimes I find Wahlberg just a bit too humourless and rather stiff. Clooney in the first "Oceans" film is always playful with lots of unexpected comic relief. The film in question is a descent effort, but again the script needed more work, and the ending was a bit predictable. I was hoping for a major unexpected twist at the end, but it never happens. The film tries to be another "Ocean's Eleven" using its devices but little of its charm. I guess my expectations are too high.

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).

Troy Putland The latest version (there being only two.....so far) of The Italian Job has no merit to its name. Director F. Gary Gray and screenwriters Troy Kennedy-Martin and Donna Powers have taken the best out of Michael Caine's original (three Mini's in a car chase, one thought-out heist) and glamourised it (Hollywood A-listers, pristine, clean shots) but with out the charge and the adrenaline we assume that's there. Wahlberg is a flat front-man. Edward Norton makes for a surprising bad guy, annoying and outsmarting Croker (Wahlberg) and his team left, right and centre. The other cast members struggle due to a lackluster script and and its inability to succeed our expectations. You'll be least disappointed in this film if you get the chance to watch this before the 1969 classic.

Evan Wessman (CinematicInceptions) Well executed is the phrase that comes to mind with this movie. This applies to both the execution of the film itself and the crime it depicts. The acting is solid all around and there are a few moments of remarkable performance. The crime is also done in a very professional and practiced way. The crime is the first major element I will address. It is done with a motive of vengeance, but I will get into that later. The object of the robbery is $27 million worth of gold. The style in which the crime is performed is very different from Ocean's Eleven, especially since it's not a casino setting, but that's just something for any prospective viewers to be conscious of. It is pretty technologically based, though I saw it eleven years after it came out so I was relatively unfazed by this. There isn't really any time in the robbery where something goes seriously wrong which may or may not appeal to any given crime fan. We see a lot of the planning that goes into the heist, another striking difference from Ocean's in which we are kept in the dark as to the master plan until the end. The second element to discuss, since I have already brought it forward, is the filmmaking execution. The script is written well and flows naturally. The lines are not quite as dramatic or deliberate as in many movies. The conversations between Steve and Charlie are the most deliberately scripted and even these scenes aren't too bad as they go. John Powell's score has the usual crime movie feel with some light guitars mixed with some horns and drums like in Ocean's and Tower Heist. As stated above, the acting is very good, but I will address that in context with the characters. We have a pretty brief look at Donald Sutherland's character, John Bridger, since he gets killed pretty early on (this becomes the stimulus for the crime). He is the well established the leader of the original team most likely because of his experience, though I don't really like his little quote about why the team should steal. The quote's interesting, but I don't quite agree with it. Charlie Croker is a natural crook who seems to steal for the thrill of it and is solidly played by Mark Wahlberg. He is given a little more personality than some lead roles, but not as much as he probably should have gotten. However, it is clear that he cared strongly for John and feels justified in robbing Steve in retribution. Edward Norton does a great job playing the villainous jerk, Steve. I hated Steve's character from very early on, which was good. He all but admits that he had no good reason for stealing the gold and killing John. His one big problem is that he doesn't adapt to the circumstances. Even after he finds out that his old team is still alive and out for his blood, he does nothing to throw them off. In short, the team is able to easily predict his movements and it comes back to bite him. The rest of the characters lie in the team. Stella Bridger, John's daughter is a safe cracker who at first is averse to Charlie and the idea of stealing the gold. But eventually, she joins the others in a quest for vengeance of her father. Charlize Theron portrays her as a confident woman who asserts herself as a leader of the crime. Plus, she does a pretty good job driving her Mini Coopers, which adds a nice touch. Left Ear, played by Mos Def, is the pyrotechnics guy of the bunch and we see a few of his techniques interspersed throughout. He has a mild personality, best exemplified in his encounter with Skinny Pete. Handsome Rob is the team street racer and is played pretty well by Jason Statham. He's more than a little cocky and doesn't mind showing off. Lastly is Lyle the hacker (but of course we have to refer to him as the Napster). He's kind of jealous of the rest of the group because his one big accomplishment got stolen from him by his college roommate. Nonetheless, he contributes a key piece of the crime in his traffic light algorithm that allows the team to get away with the gold. His best scene is the one where he mimics Handsome Rob talking to the cable lady. This leads nicely into the sub-element of comedy, of which there is a little. There are a few pretty good one-liners ("Surprised Steve?") and a couple of fully comical scenes. The most prominent of these, and my personal favorite, is the scene where Charlie tells Stella about the criminal histories of the rest of the team. Skinny Pete and the one Hispanic guy are also both introduced mainly for comical elements since they play pretty small roles in the crime. So basically, it's a good flick to pick when you're looking for decent crime or decent comedy. If you're somewhat interested in either element, it should satisfy since it's well executed. Again, it is distinctly different from Ocean's Eleven so it won't necessarily appeal to Ocean's fans. But overall it's fun and smooth. Overall Rating: 8.3/10.