Unrelenting action!

Rating: 6/10 (23 June 2003)

This is your basic remake of an old caper film and while it has nothing new to offer as far as the plot is concerned, the action sequences are thrilling to watch. The story is about an older thief named John Bridger (Donald Sutherland) who is in Venice with his gang and they steal 35 million dollars in gold bars but when they are in the Alps they are ambushed by a bunch of armed men headed by Steve (Edward Norton) who is in their gang as well. John is killed and Steve takes off with the bars. A year later Charlie (Mark Wahlberg) gets the gang together again and have tracked Steve down in Los Angeles. The gang consists of Handsome Rob (Jason Statham), Left Ear (Mos Def), Lyle (Seth Green) and they also enlist Johns daughter Stella (Charlize Theron) who is an expert safe cracker. They elaborate a scheme to steal back the gold bars and the action never lets up. Sounds like a very familiar story and it is but director F. Gary Gray does a very wise thing with this material. Its loaded with car and boat chases with helicopters and the way they steal the gold bars is actually pretty creative. The action never really ceases much so the film never becomes boring. Forget about logic, this is one of those summer films that you can just sit back and enjoy. Its nowhere near being a great film like Michael Mann's "Thief", but it is a little better than "Swordfish" minus a beautiful actress getting topless. Edward Norton has stated that he only did this film out of a contractual agreement but he does seem to be having fun playing a real bad guy. His character Steve is your cliche' backstabber but he is enjoyable to watch. Seth Green has the funniest moments in the film as Lyle who insists that he is the original Napster and doesn't generate much respect from his fellow gang members. If you go and see this film you can expect the same story you have seen many times before but the characters are engaging and the theft itself of the gold bars is done in a very exciting manner. Sit back and have fun!