"We're All A Little Emotional In This One"

Rating: 7/10 (13 August 2011)

Having not yet seen the original The Italian Job that Michael Caine I have no frame of reference to compare it to. Still this version is fast moving and fun and you got to tip your hat to a bunch of professional thieves who know their business and steal without it being bloody.
Donald Sutherland has assembled a crack team of thieves all with special skills that include Mark Wahlberg, Edward Norton, Mos Def, Jason Stathem and Seth Green. The six pull off a well timed heist of 35 million dollars in gold bullion bars. But then Norton gets real greedy and in turn steals the bullion from the rest, killing Sutherland and nearly all the others. Of course they're out for revenge, but revenge is a dish best served cold. Still they're all a little emotional on this one given the circumstances.
New on the team is Charlize Theron who is Sutherland's daughter and she brings safe-cracking skills into the mix. They will be needed before the film is over.
Edward Norton in his career has done a nice variety of sociopathic types from The Score, Primal Fear, and American History X. He's some piece of work in The Italian Job, but Norton is an actor who creates a peculiar fascination with the evil he does.
The key man as the team attempts to heist the bullion again from Norton is Seth Green the computer hacker. What he does I can't say, but it's the equivalent of directing a mouse in a maze.
This version of The Italian Job can safely stand on its own merits as entertaining and thrilling. Even without me seeing the first one as of yet.