Nearly pulls it off

Rating: 5/10 (19 February 2005)

After a successful theft of 35 million dollars in gold, Wahlberg's team is betrayed by one of their own, who tries to kill them and take the gold for himself. They must then try and steal the gold back and get revenge.
The Italian Job (haven't seen the original) is a slick, and entertaining action comedy. Of course, it's not so much of a thinking man's movie, but pure popcorn entertainment. Thankfully it's not quite as dumb as most of those films are. There are little things throughout the film that gives a little bit of extra spice.
The cast is good, having fun with their likable, albeit rather clichéd, characters. The biggest dud, however, is Wahlberg who simply can't bring any life or interesting features to the screen. A more charismatic lead would have been better.
At two hours, the film is a bit too long. Especially the middle part that drags on for some time without really getting anywhere. Of course, the main reason for this film being made is the car chases (or blatant product placement). If you're really in to cars doing impossible stuff at high speeds, then you'll probably like it more than me (car chases are one of the most boring things you can put in a film), although these scenes are a bit less annoying than usual.
The film looks great and technically there's not much to complain of. The biggest problem comes towards the end, when all that better-than-average writing is ditched in favour of stupid action and gaping plot holes. This happens in so many films that I'm starting to wonder if there's some secret organization out there, stealing the final reels of big budget films and messing them up on purpose... Anyway, it's a decent film that could have been better, so give it a try if you want. [5/10]