The Italian Job

Aside from carrying through the "Bridger" name (and he had nothing to do with the robbery either, being incarcerated during Her Majesty's pleasure), this has nothing at all to do with the 1969 film of the same name. This is just an excuse to assemble a decent cast, and have some fun. To that end, it works OK. A gang of clever thieves plan end execute a daring heist to steal a great deal of gold from an house in Italy. On their way out of the country, though, they are betrayed and left for dead in an icy reservoir. Spin on a year, and our gang - minus their leader Donald Sutherland ("Bridger") have tracked down the traitor, and are determined to get their loot back. It's quite a charismatic effort this - Jason Statham as "Handsome Rob"; Seth Green as they nerdy "Lyle" and Yasiin Bey "Left Ear" work with well the daughter of their murdered comrade "Stella" (Charlize Theron) to mastermind and execute this audacious theft. Sadly, though - Mark Wahlberg is pretty charm free, as is Edward Norton and the film takes far too long to build up anything like enough pace to get it interesting. The last twenty minutes are quite exciting, but for my money it was all too little too late. Good looking production, though - pity even the minis could not spice it up.