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Average User Score: 8 (155 sources)

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RosAzzo

-1

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A very cleverly plotted movie. The Actors were great in this movie and it is a movie that one can enjoy watch as it has so much action in it.

I guess one can say that it was about revenge and the money!

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Posted aug 26, 2008 7:53 pm pt

zophar53

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This is another heist movie starring Edward Norton, Matt Damon, and several others.
This movie starts out with Matt Damon heading up a team with Donald Sutherland to steal a safe-full of gold bars from Europe. The plan is pretty original...
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This is another heist movie starring Edward Norton, Matt Damon, and several others.
This movie starts out with Matt Damon heading up a team with Donald Sutherland to steal a safe-full of gold bars from Europe. The plan is pretty original and works like a charm. After celebrating their score however, Norton pulls a double-cross and makes away with the gold. A year later the team finds Norton in Hollywood and the quest to reclaim the gold that they rightly stole begins.
All in all, this is basically no better and no worse than any other heist film you've seen (The Score, Heist, Ocean's 11, etc). If you like heist flicks, than you will probably like this movie. Aside from the acting talent, there a few turns in the plot and the thefts get pretty creative, with a chase in three tricked out Mini Coopers and a helicopter.
If you feel that the robbery genre is getting stale than there is not much here that will convince you otherwise.

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Posted feb 13, 2008 10:51 am pt

honestgamer

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"The Italian Job" is a remake. I haven't seen the original, but I imagine it was fairly good if it inspired a remix. As for said remix, well, it's pretty good. Maybe in another 30 or 40 years, there will be another remake. Would I pay to...
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"The Italian Job" is a remake. I haven't seen the original, but I imagine it was fairly good if it inspired a remix. As for said remix, well, it's pretty good. Maybe in another 30 or 40 years, there will be another remake. Would I pay to see it? Probably not. Do I regret seeing the one I'm reviewing? No... but I'm not over the moon about it, either.

The way the film's basic plot works is this: some thieves steal some bars of gold in Italy, then there's a double-cross and most of them are left for dead. One year later, the survivors reunite to steal back that which was stolen from them... and to have their revenge on the side. So they plan a heist and then they execute.

Most of the movie covers that middle part, the planning of the actual heist. When you think about it, a movie about a bunch of people planning to do something exciting isn't particularly thrilling, but it works so far as it goes because there's some tremendous talent on-screen. Mark Wahlberg isn't my pick for actor of the year or anything, but he does a decent job here. Edward Norton plays an interesting character and does it with a lot of his usual charm, so that's interesting to watch. Charlize Theron is interesting to watch if you appreciate the appearance of attractive females, and does a good job here. Seth Green is usually a pretty funny guy, and that was true here. Jason Statham also brings a lot to the table, and it's hard now to imagine anyone but Donald Sutherland in his role. Looking at that list, there're a lot of big names and I don't know how they all got pressed together in one movie. The film's budget obviously wasn't blown just on star power, either. Even the guys you wouldn't recognize from anything put in good performances. In fact, whoever did the casting for the remake deserves nothing but praise for a job well done. It's hard to imagine the script coming out any better with other actors.

Filming is also solid. There are some really nice action scenes and I only thought about the camera's excellent positioning once. The rest of the time, the movie just flowed and I forgot I was looking at events shot through a camera lens. Everything was positioned perfectly so that events flowed and I was able to see beautiful scenery and crazy car chases and so forth.

My problems with the movie all come back to that down time between the action sequences that bookend the film. This is a two-hour affair, and more than half of it is just witty dialogue and interesting plot twists that can't possibly hold up well to repeated viewings. When I see something like "Die Hard" or "The Transporter" or any number of other high-action movies, I look forward to different scenes and I can watch them repeatedly. With "The Italian Job," there was a lot of tension the first time through but now I know everything that happens so half my reason to watch is gone.

What that all means is that "The Italian Job" is perfect for a quick thrill if you decide to give it a rental--as my wife did--but it's not the sort of feature you'd want to have sitting on your home video library shelf. At least, not if you're like me.

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Posted jan 18, 2008 2:54 pm pt

theeman2000

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I liked this movie. It had a good story, and the action was good. It also had a bit of comedy weaved in, which is cool to have in a film like this. Mark Wahlberg was good in this film too. 4 stars.

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Posted aug 26, 2007 5:53 am pt

amauriel

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This version of "The Italian Job" was a solid remake of a great movie. Some may call it a poor man's version of "Ocean's Eleven," but it was much more than that. The story arc was quite different and the heist was a little...
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This version of "The Italian Job" was a solid remake of a great movie. Some may call it a poor man's version of "Ocean's Eleven," but it was much more than that. The story arc was quite different and the heist was a little different. Overall, excellent flick.

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Posted feb 24, 2007 8:28 am pt

CTUBauer24

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A good remake as most remake are not good movies at all but this one is a good remake the story is done very well and that is why i give it 4 stars

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Posted feb 19, 2007 2:51 pm pt

tvrev

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I havn't seen the original so i am not going to compare it. This was a very interesting film to watch not because of the famous minis that appeared but because the storyline was quite goods. i was impressed how there managed to get safe from 2nd...
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I havn't seen the original so i am not going to compare it. This was a very interesting film to watch not because of the famous minis that appeared but because the storyline was quite goods. i was impressed how there managed to get safe from 2nd floor to bottom by setting explosives. it was refreshing to see that instead of armed people with guns. It was brilliantly planned to right down to the last detail.

That was just one of the things i like about this film and second has to be the cast. Mark Walberg played his character quite well so did Chalize Throne has a safe-cracker. When we saw the scene with cracking into safe we the audience had assumed that she was following her father foot sept instead she uses her talents to help the police. Edward Norton plays the double-crosser and he plays it quite well as the bad guy. it seems that role always kind of suits him. Rest of the cast are brilliant epically Seth Green as napster. i like how he use his computer to do 3-D model of the situation. i looked at that thought it was good. That because there have lots of movie in the past like oceans Eleven where character just talk cracking the safe but there was no model so that means we the audience have to listen to the film carefully however this one 3-D model shows how plan worked. i also like it when he measured 3 vans tyres to know which one had the gold bars.

The fast-driving and the mini were ok to watch but i wasn't impressed by it. mainly because the trailer showed most of the chase so does the advert which kind ruin it.

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Posted feb 8, 2007 1:04 am pt

NoOneIsAlone

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The original Italian Job is way much better than this and as always with this kind of movies, I left myself unimpressed. What is going with the writers? Why is the need of making remakes? They do not work, why can't they understand it? Well, I...
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The original Italian Job is way much better than this and as always with this kind of movies, I left myself unimpressed. What is going with the writers? Why is the need of making remakes? They do not work, why can't they understand it? Well, I guess that they should try to make something original and good, or at least that it is executed in a better way.

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Posted feb 3, 2007 12:32 am pt

ShellShocker42

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This movie is awesome, has cool cars, a great plot, good characters, and i think it all comes together for a good movie. It can really use a sequel! But the movie isnt that good. It slows itself down after a while but its still very actiony! Very...
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This movie is awesome, has cool cars, a great plot, good characters, and i think it all comes together for a good movie. It can really use a sequel! But the movie isnt that good. It slows itself down after a while but its still very actiony! Very good!

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Posted jan 30, 2007 10:37 am pt

Cursed_Shadow

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If you've seen the original Italian Job, this one is much better. It shows a group of people going after a large amount of gold and the planning on how to get it.
very good movie

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Posted jan 26, 2007 11:32 am pt

• [+] Salon.com
  
  90
  The chase scenes in The Italian Job are the most exciting ones I can remember seeing in a movie in a long time, probably because they're the only ones I can remember -- and that's saying something.

  by Stephanie Zacharek | Read Full Review »
• [+] Los Angeles Times
  
  90
  A fast and furious action-adventure. The film's comedy counts for as much as the clever and risky ways in which Wahlberg and company go after the nasty Norton, who has holed up in a Bel-Air mansion with a world-class security system.

  by Kevin Thomas | Read Full Review »
• [+] The Hollywood Reporter
  
  90
  Less giddy and more cohesive than the original, the film doesn't waste time, plunging almost directly into a spectacular heist.

  by Sheri Linden | Read Full Review »
• [+] Dallas Observer
  
  80
  It's more like the déjà vu machine. But that does not negate this movie's copious pleasures, chief among them its prudent decision to act like it's never supposed to be more than good time, a thrilling test-drive in a car you love but can't afford to actually buy.

  by Robert Wilonsky | Read Full Review »
• [+] Wall Street Journal
  
  80
  The best car commercial ever, an absolute triumph of product placement, and great fun as a movie in the bargain.

  by Joe Morgenstern | Read Full Review »
• [+] Slate
  
  80
  A pandering, debased, generic little nothing of a movie. And I'm still trying to figure out why I loved it so inordinately.

  by David Edelstein | Read Full Review »
• [+] Washington Post
  
  80
  For two hours, the bliss of the brainless fluff is yours for the asking. It cheerfully puts the escape back in escapism.

  by Stephen Hunter | Read Full Review »
• [+] Washington Post
  
  80
  It is, as with any cinematic joy ride, not the destination that matters, but the rush of getting there.

  by Michael O'Sullivan | Read Full Review »
• [+] New York Magazine
  
  80
  An elaborate techno-heist thriller, The Italian Job features some spectacular chase scenes, but for a change, the people doing the chasing are also worth watching.

  by Peter Rainer | Read Full Review »
• [+] LA Weekly
  
  80
  Not only are the action sequences well-paced and witty, but Gray neatly draws out the comic high spirits in Wahlberg's ensemble of crooks.

  by John Powers | Read Full Review »
• [+] Variety
  
  80
  The forthcoming line of high-octane summer entertainments will be hard-pressed to top this one for both thrills and wit.

  by Robert Koehler | Read Full Review »
• [+] Austin Chronicle
  
  78
  A zippy, energetic, automotive free-for-all, a caper extravaganza minus the bleak overtones that have come to figure in so many 9mm movies these days.

  by Marc Savlov | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Sun-Times
  
  75
  This is just the movie for two hours of mindless escapism on a relatively skilled professional level.

  by Roger Ebert | Read Full Review »
• [+] Baltimore Sun
  
  75
  Fits squarely into the "exciting" category; it's a white-knuckler of the first order.

  by Chris Kaltenbach | Read Full Review »
• [+] San Francisco Chronicle
  
  75
  This is pure entertainment but smart entertainment, plotted and executed with invention and humor and acted by a winning cast radiating good-movie energy.

  by Mick LaSalle | Read Full Review »