The Italian Job - A review

[P-Dub]

Let me get this off my chest first. I hate trailers that basically give away the whole movie. Okay, so if you've seen the trailer to this movie, you could basically skip it. However, if you did, you'd miss one of the better caper movies.

We start off with what appears to be one last job for the vetran safe cracker, John Bridger.(Donald Sutherland) The gang's all here with Charlie Croker(Mark Wahlberg) doing the planning and assembling the all star cast of theives. Steve Frezelli(Edward Norton), Lyle(Seth Green), Handsome Rob(Jason Statham), and Left Ear(Mos Def). The heist seems to go off exactly as planned, but of course there's a double cross. Just watch the damn trailer. :P

Move forward 1 year later and find that Stella Bridger(Charlize Theron), John's daugher is now an accomplished locksmith and safecracker and typically helps out the police. Charlie's found the where abouts of the traitor and revenge is on his mind.

The plot is pretty basic, there's a robbery, a double cross, revenge, revenge plan doesn't work out initially as planned, ect. What I liked was the ensemble cast, each brought something to their rolls. Chalize is pretty to look at, Seth has some great lines, and the Mini's.

I'll give this movie a solid B. So sit back and enjoy a nice summer flick.

Oh and tell me if that's not a Martin Logan speaker at the end of the movie.




Paul

There are three kinds of people in this world; those that can count, and those that can't.

[Chris D]

All I know is, I saw several Mini Coopers in the ads. Racing minis around the streets is good enough for me to go see it. Well, maybe I'll just rent it if it's not all that good.




CHRIS
Luke: "Hey, I'm not such a bad pilot myself, you know"

[David Meek]

Oooh, Charlize and Mini chases. What more could you ask for? I haven't seen the trailers so nothing's been revealed to me. We'll have to check it out.

How does it compare to the original? A 1969 flick with Michael Caine, Noel Coward and (no kidding) Benny Hill.




David - HTGuide flunky
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[George Bellefontaine]

oops !




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[George Bellefontaine]

This is undoubtedly a popcorn muncher, but like Tex, I like to look at Charlize. And all those Mini Coopers.... what can I say. This will be in my dvd collection.




My Homepage!

[David Meek]

We caught this Sunday afternoon. The house was packed! I wasn't expecting that at all, so the trailer must have been pretty effective. I won't add to Paul's description of the plot and risk ruining something.

This was a most enjoyable flick. It's tongue-in-cheek in a few spots and you have to suspend your disbelief once or twice, but hey it's Hollywood. It's also slicky crafted, well filmed and each of the actors does bring something to the mix. High drama? No. Good, clean fun? Absolutely! This is a throwback to the yesteryear of movie-making - beautiful people running around doing clever and naughty things all the while enjoying themselves. There's no nudity, no sex, very little serious violence - again, just good fun with a decent helping of suspense. The chase scenes with the Coopers are a hoot!
:T

Technically, the film is fairly well done. Good picture quality is combined with good camera-work and framing to produce a very pleasing image. There are some nice shots of Venice (makes me want to go back) early on. Sound quality is good with understandable dialog and active surrounds at the right time. Charlize Theron is definitely easy on the eyes, and there are good looking guys for the ladies to enjoy also.

This one will be going into the DVD collection when its available. I give it :35: out of :5:.




David - HTGuide flunky
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