Review of The Italian Job (2003) by Sally S — 01 Jan 2012

2003 - 4.2/5.

It had been a while since I saw this movie, so everything seemed new to me watching it the second time. The first 20 minutes of this movie truly set the tone for what followed. It had a good pace, and there wasn't any unnecessary filler. There were some great transitions between shots and pretty good cinematography as well (particularly in Italy). I did like the scene in which the bullets were going through the water (at the beginning) even though I read that that could never actually happen - either way, it looked good. Throughout the entire movie the music pumped the viewer up. It was very well incorporated into whatever was on screen.

This movie already has 2 things going for it in my books: Edward Norton and Mark Walberg. Charlize Theron was a good addition as well as Jason Statham, Seth Green and Mos Def. I find that in heist movies, there's always a group of people, each with their own specialties. I think each actor/actress fit their character very well and they were all very believable. It was a perfect team and each 'specialty' was well thought out. I wouldn't say that any of the character traits were exaggerated like you'd see in some movies.

I think this movie had it all. A high-speed boat chase through the narrow water canals of Italy, high-speed car chases, and some very cool helicopter scenes. Overall, great acting, a good plot and a good script.

If any movie needs to have a sequel it's this one! I've heard that the sequel is supposed to be The Brazilian Job, but I know I shouldn't hold my breath.

Oh, by the way, didn't this movie make you want a Pepsi? Product placement much?

***SPOILER ALERT***.

Right off the bat I got a feeling that there was something fishy about Steve...probably had something to do with that mustache. Edward Norton always portrays a villain, which is fine because he always does a good job.

Although I didn't remember that Charlie (Walberg) and Bridger (Sutherland) cracked the safe underwater, I didn't believe that the safe fell into the boat without damaging it.

One thing that I didn't really get was that it seemed as if Steve ended up with the whole $35 million. The group ended up stealing back $27 million; so $7 million was gone. My issue (if you can call it that) is: wouldn't Steve have had to pay the people that helped him steal the money? I'm sure they got a cut, but wouldn't they have known what it was, and more importantly, how much it was worth? Clearly Steve had spent some of the money himself. I guess it wasn't mentioned how it was split between Steve and his crew, but obviously a good chunk of it needed to remain in Steve's possession in order for it to be worth it for Charlie's team to steal it back - although it was never about the money.