"I am The Napster!"
STARRING
Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Seth Green, Edward Norton,
Directed by F. Gary Gray, Rated PG-13
I’m not really sure what to say about the Italian Job. Is it good or bad? I really can’t decide. I might as well go over both the positive and negative things about it.
The plot: It’s your typical heist flick, but with a twist. A group of thieves is running a job in Italy but is betrayed by one of their own. A year later, it’s time for revenge. He took the money from them, so they’ll steal it back from him. It’s an intriguing idea, but unfortunately when the movie was over I felt like it just hadn’t been developed enough. This is probably due to the problems in characterization (see below).
The characters: As always, there’s a wide variety of people that take part in a job. There’s Charlie (Mark Wahlberg), the leader. Then there’s the group of people working from him; everyone from a safe cracker to a driver to a mechanic. My favorite character is Lyle (Seth Green) who provides much of the comic relief. This guy should be in more movies! All the actors give decent performances, and Edward Norton, as usual, is excellent as the villain Steve – though I don’t think this is quite up to par with some of his other roles. The characters are all interesting and fun to watch, but I couldn’t help but want more. This is by all means a film driven by action, but even so I think they could have spent more time fleshing out the characters. As it is, we’re given some info about how they got started in the stealing business, and that’s it. This leaves most of the characters paper thin, and it’s really hard to sympathize with them. Are we supposed to care if they succeed just because they’re funny and know how to drive really well?
The directing: It’s nothing special, but it gets the job done. I suppose this is because some fancy schmanzy directing might have distracted us too much from the story. Nice job, Mr. Gray.
Perhaps the biggest aspect that sets The Italian Job apart from its other heist counterparts (eg. Ocean’s Eleven, Heist) is the script. For once in a heist flick, it’s not about the money. It’s about revenge. Now, that’s hardly an appropriate Christian substitute, but it’s still an interesting twist all the same. The movie is basically one giant game, where the audience is just watching to see who will win, Charlie or Steve. In some cases this makes it a much more fun movie than others in the genre. From the Mini Cooper/helicopter chase to a speedboat pursuit through Venice, The Italian Job is very light and entertaining. However, at some points the script is a bit unclear, leaving the viewer wondering, “What’s going on again?” Also, although some scenes are really great at keeping the readers attention, others simply aren’t. I found myself wishing that scenes like this would simply hurry up and get back to the good stuff. Furthermore, there’s a huge gaping plot hole at the beginning – when the group is betrayed they’re pushed into an icy river and forced to stay down there for at least a few minutes. Shouldn’t they have died from hypothermia? I can understand that in some cases the viewer might be asked to forgive such flaws, but this one seems a bit too big to me. What did they do, just snuggle up real close?
From a Christian point of view, the main objectionable aspect of this film is that it’s all about the crooks. The audience is supposed to root for the bad guys to win. However, seeing as how this type of film has been around for while and is really nothing new, I personally don’t consider this to be much of a problem. If it’s any consolation, the characters aren’t in it for the money this time, they’re in it for revenge. Actually, wait, that’s probably no consolation at all. Other than that, there are only a few bad words and some implied sex. This movie’s pretty clean compared to most of the others out there.
To conclude, this isn’t much of a spiritual film. Its main goal is simply to entertain. And I think it does that pretty well. The acting isn’t bad and it’s refreshing to see a new take on what has now become the cliché story of heists. Unfortunately, it doesn’t offer up much in terms of character development, and some of the scenes – even a few of the action ones – feel really slow. Some people will love this movie. Others will hate it. I myself stand somewhere in the middle.
The Bottom Line: The Italian Job is neither good nor bad. It’s somewhere in the middle.
Should I see it? If you’re looking for an easy way to spend two hours, and don’t want to have to think, then you might as well. There’s not a lot of offensive material, and it’s really just a fun movie at heart.
Although it’s somewhat original and has some interesting ideas, its numerous flaws hinder it. The Italian Job rates as a 6/10.