The Italian Job

Directed by Peter Collinson, The Italian Job follows a crew of criminals, led by Michael Caine’s Charlie Croker, as they conspire to steal $4 million worth of gold from an armored truck in Turin. Filmmaker Collinson, working from a script by Troy Kennedy-Martin, delivers a mostly underwhelming caper that’s felled by its relentlessly lighthearted atmosphere, as the movie’s continuing emphasis on less-than-hilarious comedic elements increasingly prevents the viewer from working up any real interest in or sympathy for the protagonists’ exploits – which is disappointing, to say the least, given the potential inherent in both the setup and Caine’s absurdly charismatic performance. It’s perhaps not surprising to note, then, that The Italian Job suffers from an exceedingly (and excessively) hit-and-miss midsection that contains little in the way of forward momentum, with the pervasively arms-length feel paving the way for an action-packed yet entirely ineffective third act that’s hardly as exciting or engrossing as Collinson has surely intended (ie there’s just nothing to get invested in here, ultimately) – thus cementing the picture’s place as a weak, half-baked endeavor that works as neither an over-the-top comedy nor a gripping heist thriller.

** out of ****