The Italian Job

Review by Clint Morris

Remakes seem to be the flavour of the decade, so is the problem that there lies no more original ideas in Hollywood?

Or is it that some of those classics are just so good, you can't help but want to recreate them for a new audience?

It's debatable that the oldies are simply being remade because they're great films.

Why? Half of the films that are being remade were stinkers in the first place.

One pin-up that seems pretty unfazed at the collective panning of remakes is Mark Wahlberg. He headlined Tim Burton's widely reviled remake of Planet of the Apes [2000] and more recently, starred in the commonly slammed remake of Charade, titled The Truth about Charlie [2002].

Wahlberg's now deciding to use his last swing - as in he has three strikes - to star in a reworking of the action classic The Italian Job.

Will he strike out? Again?

More akin to the recent star-studded Oceans Eleven than to the Michael Caine film of the same name, F.Gary Gray's The Italian Job is a slick, dynamic action piece that puts spectacular stunts first - performances and ruse second.

Surprising then that you'd see Edward Norton - who's made a name for himself doing superb character turns of late - listed in the credits.

Assumingly, Norton signed on for The Italian Job as a breather between those much heavier projects he's been working on. Either that or he's been tricked into believing his villain part was much more than your token two-dimensional turn. Which it's not.

After Steve Frezelli [Norton] backstabs his fellow band of thieves over a truckload of Gold, and ultimately pops a bullet in the head of the veteran gang leader [Donald Sutherland], mastermind and unprompted gang leader Charlie Crocker [Wahlberg] becomes determined to settle the scores.

Joined by their late leader's gutsy daughter, Stella [a gorgeous Charlize Theron], also a mastermind safe-cracker, they plan the ultimate turn of the tables: They'll get inside the villain's L.A mansion, find out where their stolen gold is, and ultimately work out a conniving way of getting it back.

You'd be forgiven for thinking The Italian Job was spawn from Jerry Bruckheimer's bureau. Not unlike Bruckheimer's showy action pieces - notably Gone in 60 Seconds - emphasis here is on over-the-top stunts, hair-raising action, and divertingly loud sound.

If that's what you're into, you'll have a good time from start to end. There are some fantastic larger-than-life sequences - mainly at the start of the film, and a nice re-creation of the eminent Mini Minor chase from the earlier film.

But the Mini Minor's - besides the title - are the only real link to the first film. The story's radically different, as are the characters. But no huge loss, once again, the original on which this is based upon was no gem anyhow.

It doesn't give much of its cast much of an opportunity to do much acting, but if it's slumming in a reasonably entertaining popcorn actioner they all intended, they've definitely hit pay dirt.

Let's delay Wahlberg's sentence 'till the next round, shall we? Perhaps when he decides to star in a remake of Citizen Kane.

3 out of 5

The Italian Job
Australian release: Thursday August 21st
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton, Donald Sutherland, Seth Green, Mos Def, Jason Statham.
Director: F. Gary Gray.
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