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The Italian Job
Years from now, film students
will likely regard F. Gary Gray as a journeyman director
that put a lot of film clichés to rest. Oh, heck, they do
now. Unfortunately the way he's doing it is by overusing
them, rather than find new ways to make his points. For
those who like their movies familiar, Gray is your man.
His latest by-the-numbers
effort, The Italian Job, follows some of the formula
established by the 1969 original, with modern twists that
have made the unexpected mundane. If you zone out, it's
entertaining enough, but something's wrong when the freshest
aspect of the film, fun with Mini Coopers, is lifted out
of the original and still feels like kow-towing to modern
product placement.
However, any film that actually
involves three heists (because just one might give
you time to think about the logic) can't be all bad. At
least in Michael Goodson's book.
The actual Italian Job of
the title is over with rather quickly. After calling his
gorgeous daughter Stella (Charlize Theron), backsliding
thief John Bridger (Donald Sutherland) teams with his protégé
for "one last job" in Venice. (That's Italy, not California.)
Planned by the protégé, Charlie
(Mark Wahlberg), the job involves a lot of men, crack timing,
and a goodly amount of misdirection. By now, that lot of
men comes straight out of central casting: the rough and
tumble wheelman, the computer whiz, the munitions man, and
the shifty guy whose skill remains undefined so he must
be the traitor.
Luckily for the film, Gray
cast Edward Norton in that latter role, a fine actor flailing
about for characterization when the script gives him none.
His "Steve," though, is meant to be a cipher, a guy with
so little imagination that he has to steal everyone else's
very ambition. It's an intriguing idea that falls flat.
Part of that is because the
film doesn't revolve around Steve; it's actually about Charlie
and crew getting revenge. They track him down in Los Angeles
a year later, bringing in John's daughter who conveniently
has all of her father's safe-cracking talent but … she's
on the side of good.
Okay. So it's not really a
surprise.
The other two heists are a
part of that revenge on Steve, and though they're clever
(and bring in those Mini Coopers), our fascination with
the intricacies can't hide that there's nothing much else
going on beyond the excuses to (hopefully) blow things up
good.
Gray tries to mix things up
with comic relief, but most of the time it feels rather
forced. In a mid-film introduction of all the characters
(yes, mid-film - the audience knows them, but Stella does
not), we get silly flashbacks to all their childhoods, all
of which linger too long to be funny.
Worse, Charlie's childhood
vignette shows how he's always really been a noble thief.
He has to be noble, because Wahlberg just isn't charismatic
enough to make us like him otherwise.
There are other problems in
using the former Marky Mark. From the very beginning, he
and Stella have an obvious sibling rivalry/incipient romance.
But Wahlberg just isn't old enough to have been under Sutherland's
wing; not unless he started pulling full-fledged heists
in junior high. The script also can't decide how well the
star couple really know each other. If there's passion between
the two, it's all off-camera.
However, all the supporting
cast bring life to the cardboard cutouts they've been asked
to play. Mos Def plays the munitions guy "Left Ear" with
plenty of attitude; it's not his fault his scripted laugh
lines aren't really funny. As wheelman "Handsome Rob," Jason
Statham glowers, threatens, and makes you believe that yes,
he pretty much can get any woman to sleep with him.
Proving that point in the
movie's best scene, Seth Green's Lyle, aka "Napster" (don't
ask), runs a narration over Handsome Rob's inaudible seduction
of a hot cable technician (it's L.A.; everybody's hot).
Like a lot of roles Green plays, just as it taps into what
makes him a unique and valuable presence in film, it dances
back into something we've seen before. Someday, somebody
will figure out what to do with Green.
For now, if all you're looking
for is chase scenes, a few explosions, and a hot chick standing
next to the lead, The Italian Job does the trick.
It's pleasant enough. But if you really want something satisfying,
rent the original.
What's It Worth? $6.50
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