The Italian Job

What’s the Story?

THE ITALIAN JOB begins with the theft of $35 million in gold bars. Then, a second theft occurs as one of the team double-crosses the others and, thinking he has killed them all, takes the gold for himself. Now, the rest of the team tries to get the gold back. The team is led by Charlie (Mark Wahlberg), and includes genius tech whiz Lyle (Seth Green), genius demolition whiz Left Ear (Mos Def), genius getaway driver Handsome Rob (Jason Statham), genius safecracker Stella (Charlize Theron), the daughter of Charlie's great mentor -- and genius safecracker John (Donald Sutherland). They want to get the gold back from colleague-turned-enemy Steve (Edward Norton), who killed John. Stella just wants revenge. And if a little romance enters into the picture, no one should be too surprised.

Is It Any Good?

Charlie keeps telling Steve that he has no imagination, an unfortunate reminder that the movie, a remake of a Michael Caine caper film doesn't have much, either. But it has enough panache and charm to make it an enjoyable genre film. Def, Green, Statham, and Sutherland deliver their usual top-notch performances, even when the script gets formulaic. Norton, who reportedly was not happy about being contractually obligated to do the film, at least acts as if he was not happy about being contractually obligated to do the film.

The film's biggest waste of time is a running Napster joke that is two years out of date and tired the first time it is used, excruciating by the 10th. Apparently, they were stuck with it because of the appearance in the film of real-life Napster creator Shawn Fanning in the film, a joke maybe one percent of the audience will get and one tenth of one percent will care about.