The Italian Job
“You were only supposed to do blow the bloody doors off” Said Michael Caine in the 1969 extended advert for mini’s, which, now revered as a Brit classic, has been remade as a flashy American action thriller. Or maybe just a timely bit of product placement for the BMW owned New Mini?
The original film was a comic caper movie about a plan to steal a gold shipment from the streets of Turin by engineering a massive traffic jam, thereby making off with the loot in the nippy British Minis being chased by the incompetent Italian police in a Dukes of Hazard style. It was a car chase, Michael Caine, Minis and a pinch of British humour, and not much else. It was good fun, but has the Hollywood remake managed to add a bit more thrill without losing the bloody British humour?
Well, not really. It’s added the thrill, the sparkle and the coolness of the similarly starry named glossy heist remake, 2001’s Ocean’s Eleven. In place of superstars George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and Andy Garcia are Hollywood’s up and comings; Mark Wahlberg, Edward Norton and Charlize Theron. The similar style, subject and superstarredness means that fans of Ocean’s Eleven will be right at home in the new Job. Unfortunately I didn’t really like Ocean’s, all style and no heart, and The Italian Job suffers the same failings, accentuated by some cardboard-cut-out main characters. Theron, Wahlberg and the great Donald Sutherland are predictable and clichéd in their roles, with absolutely no chemistry between the two leads, and some really naff “he was like a father too me” lines. Thank god, Snatch and Austin Powers for the supporting characters played by Jason Statham and Seth Green, who add abit of humour, saving the film from mediocrity and making it, well, quite fun.
Statham seems to be slipping remarkably well into his ‘I’m the English Bruce Willis’ action hero role, thankfully ditching the awful American accent seen in The One, and is great fun as the driver\ladies’ man. Seth Green rules his scenes as ‘The Napster’; playing the well worn and now obligatory computer geek role with some much needed personality and humour. Edward Norton, who as excelled in the past with American History X and Fight Club, seems to be cruising this film on autopilot, playing a very similar backstabbing conman type to his role in The Score. He’s alright, but not really evil enough, try harder next time Ed.
I think I’ve established that there’s not much of a story, script or characters to make this a really engaging film, but there’s just enough to keep the story moving to the penultimate action scene that we all knew it was building to (which is pretty good, as expected), and have a few laughs along the way. It had a good beginning, pretty slow middle and a action packed finale that had the heart pumping. So try to put aside the British mind set, it wasn’t better in the good old days, the original was never that good, and maybe you’ll enjoy this slick remake, and probably want to buy a Mini.
6.2
DS 18:51 14/09/2003