Not as good as some, but better than most

Rating: 7/10 (20 October 2003)

Well, I'm partial to the odd heist movie from time to time. You generally know what to expect, so the success of the film is measured by how much fun it is. The Italian Job certainly delivers on that account.
The gang's all there: the old guy on his last job, his heir apparent, the slightly shifty guy, the nerdy computer guy (Seth Green is excellent!), the muscle guy and the oddjob guy. And away we go - it's good fun watching the original heist, and then we come to the fairly predictable twist (which I won't give away here). After that, the rest of the gang obviously try to get the loot back from the traitor, with their plotting - and therefore the film - occasionally more than slightly reminiscent of Ocean's Eleven.
OK, the film might be played by the numbers a bit; Mark Wahlberg will forever remain Marky Mark for me, and not a leading man; the car chases are overlong if good (how much did Mini pay them?) - but the script is fast-paced, happily devoid of soppy love-scenes and basically, any film (except maybe Trapped) that is willing to devote a lot of screen time to the ever delectable Charlize Theron gets two thumbs up from me on general grounds. In short, the film does exactly what it says on the tin - it's one of the better movies I've seen this year. 7 out of 10.