Really Really shoddy

Rating: 3/10 (7 June 2003)

I've seen the original Italian Job with Michael Caine, and that was a classic action/comedy. This version shifted its action to L.A., and its theme from action/comedy to action/drama. Unfortunately, it delivers very little of either. The acting is listless and the story, lacklustre.
I'm a fan of Jason Statham, but he's not enough to save this movie. Seth Green plays a computer whiz who claims he invented napster (another annoying and pointless schtick). And somehow he's got enough remote hardware power to wirelessly hack into the L.A. traffic system from a baggage claim cart to throw the whole city into logjam.
The mini-cooper car chase scenes are hardly reminiscent of the car chase scene from the original movie, which still remains a classic.

The relationships between the characters are poorly developed for a pseudo-drama, which they try to toss in between Donald Sutherland, as Mark Wahlberg's mentor and father figure; and his romantic interest, Charlize Theron. The worst part had to be the abrupt end to the movie, which culminated with Charlize and Mark living happily ever after without every developing a history in front of the viewing audience. Another major disappointment is Edward Norton's character as a greedy, ruthless villain, who apparently is not smart enough to avoid transporting his gold putting it at the greatest risk possible for looters like Mark's crew.