Written by: Donna Powers & Wayne Powers
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton, Seth Green, Jason Statham, Mos Def
Rating: [3/5]
In order to pull off any successful heist, a strong bond of trust must exist within the team, as each piece depends on the other in order to achieve their mission. This trust goes through plenty of vetting as one faulty piece could lead to it all falling apart, the team ending up behind bars, or even dead. Therefore, someone betraying the team stands right up there as an unforgivable act and one that The Italian Job utilizes to make for a breezy and entertaining film.
Pulling off their latest heist in Venice, Charlie Coker (Mark Wahlberg) and his team find themselves getting away with it all except for one of their members, Steve (Edward Norton) betrays them and in the process kills their leader, John (Donald Sutherland). Swearing to get revenge, Charlie and the team approach John’s daughter, Stella (Charlize Theron), a master safe cracker, to steal back what was taken.
As 2000s as a heist film can get, The Italian Job sought to latch onto the soaring success of Ocean’s Eleven, where you bring a bunch of known entities together and have them pull off a heist. Well, instead of George Clooney leading the lines, we have to settle for Mark Wahlberg. A considerable downgrade but one that worked out just fine as we navigate the heist story centered on revenge that has all the elements one could want from a film within this genre. Even with its deficiencies and lack of weight, it still manages to create a fun little tale.
Part of what makes it fun to watch comes from the mustache-twirling performance put on by Edward Norton as the back-stabbing Steve. With those glued on eyebrows and rough-looking facial hair, he enters the fray as he attempts to avoid the revenge coming his way. He certainly does nothing to endear himself to the audience with his betrayal but he does have some fun interactions where he taunts Charlie and Stella in the effort to avenge John. This villain does not carry much depth but neither does this film, but he matches the energy this film carries through the characters.
As for the heist itself, it involves many moving parts, including the feat of completely controlling Los Angeles traffic through the stoplights. It makes me chuckle that someone in the universe of this film has a career-changing interview they are late for simply because of this heist going on and they purposefully create the traffic jam of all traffic jams to lead this armored truck to the right place in order for them to grab it. Honestly, quite the feat in traffic coordination that city planners could only dream of, except for the opposite desired effect in creatine mass congestion. Like many heist films, it takes plenty of coordination to line things up perfectly, and a certain satisfaction exists in watching it happen as we see these professionals honing in on their craft when it matters most. Then we have the moments with the Fiats and the title of the film becomes much more prevalent other than the opening heist as well. Does not get as Italian as driving Fiats through Los Angeles carrying millions worth of bouillon.
With my little dig at Mark Wahlberg earlier, this cast still brings together some fun people. With the villainous portrayal by Edward Norton, we also get some fun performances put on by Jason Statham as the stock Jason Statham character and Seth Green as the stock Seth Green character. Each of these actors certainly did not seek to play against type, and for the most part it worked for them. Charlize does what she can with a limited character, but at least she does not serve as the damsel in distress most women in these types of films fall into.
Nothing too serious, nor did it need to be, The Italian Job exists as the perfect movie you could turn on during a lazy Sunday afternoon and have a good time watching. We have competent individuals putting together a heist and we even get to mix in some revenge to further motivate these characters to carry out their stated goal. Plenty of fun sequences to go around and we receive some enjoyable performances by the cast put together. Certainly not among the best of its genre but not something anyone would walk away from without being entertained.
Films with Josh 
