Film Roar

The Italian Job (2003)

[4 - Good]

I love to watch a good Con Men / Heist movie. Even a con flick without a very strong script or great actors can be fun to watch, but when you get a good combination of action / writing and acting like in The Italian Job (2003) it can be deliciously fun.

The plot for The Italian Job is nothing special. A group of professional thieves and safe crackers steal a fortune in gold bullion. When one of the gang turns on the rest, takes the haul for himself and leaves the group for dead the gang has to figure out a way to steal the gold back while a fool of the bad-guy-gone-bad. The way they do it is with well-planned tricks that culminate in a high-speed chase with a bunch of supped up MINI coopers. The movie has been called a remake of the 1969 movie by the same name though (and I have not seen the original Michael Caine version so this is conjecture) the new version bears little resemblance other than in the climatic chase sequence so it should really be called 'inspired by.'. What makes this new movie so much fun to watch is the depth and charisma of the characters.

Aside from the great screen chemistry that the principal actors enjoyed the thing that probably struck me the most about the characters in The Italian Job is that in this (unlike many con movies) film they are allowed to show some depth and emotion, more so they are allowed to smile! Donald Sutherland has a great smile and charisma which few directors encourage or allow him to show but which immediately go to work in making you like his character. In the movie he plays the character of John Bridger, father to Charlize Theron's character Stella and father figure for Mark Wahlberg's leading character Charlie. While Sutherland and Theron do not have any actual screen time together from the opening scene where John meets Charlie we fully believe their relationship and can see an unspoken bond in the way they talk and relate to one another. Wahlberg and Theron later enjoy some great chemistry of their own as the guarded Stella finds herself falling for the man who reminds her of her (now dead) father, exactly the kind of guy she has told herself to stay away from. There is one scene between the two of them, which I thought nicely, summed up the elements that make this movie work so well; in this scene Stella is upset and crying. Charlie comes into her room to comfort her and although he is obviously attracted to her and although he is very focused and driven by the job they are trying to pull off he does the right thing and simply stands by her and lets her know how much her father loved her. There is a very real sense of humanity in the scene, especially for Theron who has to play a character is that very strong yet vulnerable.

The rest of the cast is equally capable and play their characters with all the humor, ingenuity and finesse while keeping and edge of vulnerability that would expect from thieves of this caliber. Seth Green (whom most know as Scott Evil in Austin Powers (1997) or Oz the werewolf in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997)) does this particularly well and is an absolute pleasure to see in his role as Lyle "The Napster", the brilliant young hacker in the group. His joy is palatable when he first explains to Charlie that he can take over Los Angeles Traffic Control, Charlie replies with "want to take it for a spin" and Lyle lights up as he gets ready to create some mischief. In a interview included on the DVD director F. Gary Gray (who has a short filmography of 7 movies but is a well known name in music videos and is currently working on the upcoming Be Cool (2004), the sequel to Get Shorty (1995)) tells of how he forgot to call 'Cut' in one scene where Green mimicking the conversation between Handsome Rob (Jason Statham) and Becky the cable repair girl. I fully believe the story is true, Green does such an incredible job with the voices and with the made up conversation that it had me laughing out loud. The imagined conversation for the benefit of those who have seen the movie by the way goes like this (if you have not seen it skip ahead, this won't make sense to you anyway):

'Ello, I'm Handsome Rob, what's your name?
My name's Becky.
Listen, I was wondering if I could have your truck and your shirt.
Okay. Would you like my virginity as well?
If it's on the menu.
You're not very bright are you?
[giggles] No.
Perfect.

Also enjoyable and memorable are his line of "I am The Napster" and the great bit that can be seen in the trailer where he calculates the amount of gold in the haul and exclaims "Woo. Yeah. I got the Holy Spirit... get on it... it's a good train". As good as he is I do hope that Green does not see himself typecast by these roles, he played a very similar hacker-enjoying-his-work character in Enemy of the State (1998) and is a bit of a cool-geek in both Austin Powers and Buffy.

Speaking of being type-cast Wahlberg worries about this in another of the DVD extras where he worries about starring in a third 1970s movie remake in a row (the other two are Planet of the Apes (2001) and The Truth About Charlie (2002)). Honestly I think he should be paying more attention to keeping away from bad-scripts if he wants to keep his career going. Wahlberg has proven he is a very capable actor, in movies like The Italian Job, Boogie Nights (1997) and Three Kings (1999) but he has also taken part in some real dogs including Planet of the Apes, The Truth About Charlie, Renaissance Man (1994) (a.k.a. By The Book), Fear (1996), The Big Hit (1998) and The Perfect Storm (2000). For a man with his talent I might suggest being more selective about the work he takes or maybe switching agents.

I do not have much to add about Jason Statham (Handsome Rob) or Mos Def (left ear) other than to say they seem well cast in their roles. I recognized Def's name but could not place him. Eventually I realized that he had a role in Film Roar: Monster's Ball (2001) (which I saw recently but did not remember him from) but that his name has been in the news lately as he has been cast as Ford Prefect in the upcoming movie adaptation The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005).

There was one odd bit of casting, Edward Norton did a great job as Steve, the backstabbing member of the group. He never seemed to get into the same rhythm or share the screen chemistry that the rest of the cast enjoyed. I assumed this was intentional in the part of the filmmakers since the character of Steve is never really as tight a member of the gang as the rest, but watching the additional material on the DVD I was struck by his noticeable absence. Even as they talk about each actor in turn rather than have Norton speak to his experience on the film they have other members of the cast talk about what it was like to work with Norton. I did a bit of digging and found in the trivia section of the IMDB that Norton did not want the role and appeared purely out of a contractual obligation.

The screen chemistry is accompanied by impressive boat chases, car chases, effective editing and good use of mood music. Any fan of the MINI Cooper (hi Enrika!) will love to see them fly through subway tunnels and zip around gridlocked traffic. Like the rest of the movie they are not perfect but are a great deal of fun. I recommend it as a fun late evening flick with some artistic quality. And remember what Skinny Pete says "There's three things you don't trust; mother nature, mother in-laws and, mother freaking Ukrainians."

Posted by Leopoldo at February 12, 2004 08:40 AM | TrackBack