Italian Job (remake)

Written 12 April 2005

Warning: This film review reveals most of the plot of the movie.

I've gotten in the habit of going to the local movie theater a few times a month, usually on a Saturday or Sunday morning. It allows me to catch a movie at the matinee prices without a lot of people crowded around me. I virtually always visit the theater alone, as I want to have my attention on the movie, not on another person or group of people. I've never understood the concept of going to the movies as a social event - you cannot talk, play games or enjoy each other's company. I save that for things more suitable for two or more people to socialize, such as hiking, going to dinner and so on.

Thus, as is my usual custom, I went to see the Italian Job alone. I had no idea what to expect from this movie. I hadn't seen any trailers nor had I gotten any opinions from anyone. In fact, I picked it out of the movie lineup on the movie website and simple went because nothing else grabbed my attention.

The movie was worth the trip. In fact, over the next two months, I actually visited the theater twice more (for a total of three times) to see this movie again, and I watched it on video on at least half a dozen more occasions (the most recent being last night). This is a very well done movie. Not academy award material (which is really a complement considering some of the junk that gets nominated and wins), but very entertaining, fast paced, and fun.

The movie stars one of my favorite actors: Donald Sutherland, and one of my least favorite actors (up to this point anyway), Marck Wahlburg. Now I am a little biased against Wahlburg as he was the star of the Planet of the Apes Remake, which was pure junk. In that film, his acting was wooden and uninpired, but perhaps, in hindsight, he was tied down by lame directing and a poor script.

Steve Norton does a fine job as the bad guy, very believable. In fact, the whole movie is completely believable, even when impossible things are happening, I completely bought it all. Why? Because the plot is tight, the characters are well developed, the acting is great, and the focus is on the story, not on something else.

The movie opens with a number of interesting characters pulling off a heist. It's complex but believable, the idea being to blow a hole in the floor under a safe full of gold bars. They pull it off with a standard boat chase scene in Vienna, Italy, which turns out to be a diversion. The safe really is underwater, and they remove the bars at their leisure as the unknowing guards and policemen run around in the building above.

Steve, played by Steve Norton, turns on the crew, killing John (Donald Sutherland) and making off with the gold. He is tracked down to Los Angeles, and the crew reunites, along with John's daughter, to get revenge by relieving Steve of the gold.

I liked the addition of the mini-coopers, a very small car, and the scenes in the Los Angeles metro subway system. I often ride that subway and it was interesting to see the same places that I've traveled in the movie.

The ending was very well done, especially as Steve gets what's coming to him. You see, he killed the wrong person, which unites the thieves with a character called "Moskov" or something to that effect. He's also known as the Ukrainian, and the mere mention of his name is enough to send shivers of fear down the spine of Skinny Pete. When you see Skinny Pete, you will understand how tough Moskov must be.

I loved the music, very classy and well done. Usually I've found that movie music is either too glaring or too subtle, but Italian Job got it perfect. The sound track set the feel to "classy" in my mind.

But the thing that makes this movie stand out in my mind is what it didn't do. The director could easily have turned it into just another shoot-em-up action film with explosions and death all over the place. He didn't do that, instead concentrating on the plot and leaving most of the violence, except where absolutely necessary, in the background or implied.

And finally, even though the movie has a major "babe", Charlize Theron, she stays believable and in character the entire time. In other words, she didn't jump into the sack with anyone, she didn't have romantic interludes and she remained focused on her mission: revenge. She didn't even do the almost obligatory gratuitous topless shot which seems so common in lesser movies these days. Because of that, the director and the actress earned my respect, and that's tough to do.