Review of The Italian Job (1969) by Wololooo — 26 Mar 2012

The Italian Job turned out to be better than I expected. Looking through the cast I was worried that the director was relying on the ensemble of heavyweight actors to carry the film, but dialogue and story-wise, The Italian Job wasn't bad at all.

There's a lot of unnecessary filler scenes in the middle third, and the director/editor could have easily cut out a good ten-fifteen minutes. As pointed out by a few users, Edward Norton is fairly disappointing as the film's villain among villains, and I would've preferred to see him cast as the lead man.

That being said, Mark Wahlberg does a surprisingly good job, not overplaying the role. The supporting cast, particularly Mos Def and Jason Statham, lend some comic relief and and give an all-round solid performance.

There's a heap of implausible moments in The Italian Job, so much so that I was scoffing at times at the ludicrousness of it all, but it's to be expected from a high-adrenaline action film.