The Italian Job

Based on the eponymous 1969 film, The Italian Job follows a crew of criminals, including Mark Wahlberg’s Charlie, Jason Statham’s Handsome Rob, and Charlize Theron’s Stella, as they embark on a campaign of revenge against Edward Norton’s villainous Steve. Filmmaker F. Gary Gray delivers a briskly-paced and pervasively slick thriller that effectively manages to sustain the viewer’s interest throughout an admittedly (and palpably) overlong running time, and yet it’s equally clear that The Italian Job is never quite able to achieve anything resembling total liftoff – with the movie, for the most part, saddled with a bland and hopelessly generic feel that’s reflected in its myriad of attributes. It consequently goes without saying that few of the picture’s many action-oriented set pieces are able to generate the thrills and excitement Gray has presumably intended, although, having said that, it’s hard to deny the visceral impact of a climactic car chase that travels through Hollywood’s busy streets and even into its subway system. The perfunctory atmosphere is perpetuated by the competent yet far from captivating performances and an ongoing emphasis on silly comedic bits (eg an ongoing Napster subplot fares especially poorly), which does, in the end, cement The Italian Job‘s place as a seriously lazy would-be blockbuster that’s nevertheless affable and breezy enough to warrant a mild recommendation.

**1/2 out of ****