The Italian Job 2003
I saw this on DVD today. This is a first-rate caper movie and very well executed. From the previews I thought it would be more car chases with the Minis but they didn’t come into play until later in the movie. Watching the DVD extras afterwards the director, Gary Gray, said he wanted to do everything without using a bunch of CGI special effects. This was a real contrast with Terminator 3 where they used CGI for just about everything they could think of. It also parallels the primary players’ refusal to use guns in pulling off their heists. It’s nice that a movie can turn away from building-ripping explosions and violence and still keep you on the edge of your seat (it still has both of those things, just not in mass quantities).
The cast was good though Mark Wahlburg and Edward Norton don’t have a chance to really shine like they did in movies like Three Kings and American History X. But they don’t really need to, they just need to look cool and appear really smart which they do well. Charlize Theron has a good strong role and looks great. She did a lot of the Mini driving herself it turns out. And in the boat chase at the beginning you find out that the actor who plays “Handsome Rob” got an hour to practice driving the boat in the Venice canals before shooting started (plus his first experience ever driving a boat back in LA before that).
A gripe that is also a little bit of a tribute is that there aren’t too many twists and turns either. The similar Oceans Eleven gave the audience a major twist. While this movie is an equal to Oceans Eleven, it is more straightforward. Lately it seems like movies have to have huge twists, so I can respect that this one doesn’t go that route and hope that I’m not giving too much away if you haven’t seen it.
Not high art but a great example of this type of movie. I’ll give it an A.
Owned on: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital