The Italian Job

The Italian Job Odeon Friday 10-Thursday 16 October Approaching the Italian job unprejudiced by memories of the seminal 60s original, the remake starring Mark Wahlberg comes across as another passably enjoyable action film. The car chases are slick, the Minis shiny and the assembled cast consists of decent actors who haven’t quite reached leading man status. Edward Norton’s villain, Steve, has absolutely no charisma at all, which undermines the main plotline slightly. Stealing gold bullion from a baby with a bum-fluff beard can’t be that hard after all. Charlize Theron looks good and adds the requisite romantic interest, but although she gets to drive as fast as the boys you still feel she’s been drafted in merely to help sell more Minis. Although the opening heist takes place in Venice, the filmmakers have made every attempt to take the original blueprint and make it their own, transplanting the subsequent action sequences to the LA rush hour. The problem is that everyone (apart from me) remembers the original Italian Job for the cars and the characters and although the cars perform their stunts admirably, the actors in the remake just aren’t memorable. It’s strange, the Italian Job is a decent film, but you can’t help feeling like you’ve seen it all before. Even if you haven’t.ARCHIVE: 0th Week MT2003