Dean's Thoughts on Entertainment

The Italian Job

I skipped this movie in the theatre for two reasons, Mark Wahlberg, and my girlfriend saw it without me. A look at the cast alone would require a viewing (Jason Statham, Seth Green, Donald Sutherland, Mos Def, Edward Norton, Charlize Theron), and all of them were on the top of their game. (Actually, Norton didn't really want to be in the movie, and Wahlberg was kind of blah) The comedy involved was all well done mostly due to Seth Green and Mos Def, and the scene where Seth impersonates Jason Statham is hilarious and worth multiple viewings. The story came together believably, and they didn't try for any of the gay conventions of these kind of heist movies, namely the multiple surprise ending which almost never works. F. Gary Gray gets kudos for the direction, he fought for realism throughout the movie and it made it beautiful. He urged the actors to do all the driving so the chase scenes could have more than the wide shot of the car and then the extreme close-up of the driver, and almost all of the scenes were shot on location and not in the studio. A great ensemble movie that was far superior to Ocean's Eleven because of its humor and the possibility of multiple viewing pleasure. Recommended.