Product Description

DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5024 in DVD
• Brand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2003-10-07
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Widescreen, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Original language: French
• Subtitled in: English
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 111 minutes

Features

• TESTED

Amazon.com
Though it bears little resemblance to the original 1969 thriller starring Michael Caine, the 2003 remake of The Italian Job stands on its own as a caper comedy that's well above average. The title's a misnomer--this time it's actually a Los Angeles job--but the action's just as exciting as it propels a breezy tale of honor and dishonor among competing thieves. Inheriting Caine's role as ace heist-planner Charlie Croker, Mark Wahlberg plays straight-man to a well-cast team of accomplices, including Mos Def, Jason Statham, and scene-stealer Seth Green in a variation of the role originally played by Noel Coward. As the daughter of Croker's ill-fated mentor (Donald Sutherland), Charlize Theron is recruited to double-cross a double-crosser (Edward Norton in oily villain mode), and once again, speedily versatile Mini Coopers play a pivotal role in director F. Gary Gray's exhilarating car-chase climax. It's perhaps the greatest product placement in movie history, and just as fun the second time around. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
Edward Norton, pulling his chin down and showing off a mean spot of beard, acts the mild and recessive Mark Wahlberg off the screen in this elaborate international heist movie about bad and good gold thieves. As a piece of summer-season craftsmanship the movie is fine: the camera rises majestically over the Dolomites, and in Venice, speedboats churn up the canals and head into blind turns. There's a dangerous-looking chase in which a small black helicopter hovers right over a car in the streets of Los Angeles, and the director F. Gary Gray uses a fleet of buzzing, squared-off Minis extremely well, shooting the tiny cars into a subway tunnel just ahead of a train, making them jump and spin and flip like toys. Don't expect much more, however, than a pleasant workout. Seth Green and Mos Def are very funny in minor roles. With the creamy Charlize Theron as the daughter of master criminal Donald Sutherland. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker