Mark Wahlberg finds himself in his second remake in the past two years with F. Gary Gray’s remake of the 1969 film starring Michael Caine, but with a few new twists.
The big news with this movie is the role of Edward Norton who is rumored to have been forced to play the role of the back-stabbing Steve Frazelli to complete his three-film contract with Paramount that dated all the way back to 1996’s Primal Fear. It is said that he even returned the Mini Cooper the cast all received as a gift
All that said, The Italian Job brings together a stellar cast to tell the story of a group of thieves that were double-crossed by one of their own (Norton) to which they must get their revenge.
From the boat chase in the beginning to the race of the tiny Mini’s through the streets of Tinsel Town and underground of downtown LA this movie doesn’t stop. Not only do the action sequences keep you interested the comedy that was written for this flick actually makes you laugh without any of the silly witticisms you may have come to expect from an action flicks that seem to just beg for an “I’ll be back.”
In The Italian Job Charlie Croker (Mark Wahlberg) has set up an operation in Italy where he is going to be pulling what will be the final “job” along with his mentor John Bridger (Donald Sutherland) and their band of thugs (Seth Green, Mos Def, Jason Statham, and Edward Norton).
The job is a theft involving explosives and a safe filled with $35 million in gold bars, but once they are able to make their getaway they are double crossed by Steve Frezelli (Edward Norton) and in the process of taking the gold he kills Sutherland.
This brings us to Los Angeles, one year later, and the beautiful Stella Bridger (Charlize Theron), and I stress beautiful. She is absolutely gorgeous in this movie and you will know what I am talking about just minutes into the movie, oh tank top why must you be so mean?
Anyway, back to the story. Theron is the daughter of the now dead Sutherland and has taken her father’s interest in safe cracking, except for the small difference that she helps the police, as opposed to avoiding them, by cracking the safes of the bad guys, how fitting.
One day she is greeted by Charlie in her office where she is presented the opportunity to help the group of survivors get back at Norton now that his whereabouts have been found.
Whew! Next is madness, bedlam, and straight comedy from the controlling of traffic grids, “Napster”, and true motorcycle navigation. The efforts of bomb expert Left-Ear (Mos Def) and the techie Lyle or “Napster” (Seth Green) truly stand out for the comical efforts and the outrageous antics, Seth Green especially will have you laughing guaranteed.
Not only is The Italian Job a great movie, I am already waiting for the DVD to come out. It is a must not miss.
