Movie Malcontent / THE ITALIAN JOB

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THE ITALIAN JOB / Malcontent's Mark: B

May 30, 2003

Charlie Croker: Mark Wahlberg
Steve: Edward Norton
Lyle: Seth Green
Stella Bridger: Charlize Theron

Written by Wayne Powers and Donna Powers.
Directed by F. Gary Gray.
Rated PG-13

Five minutes into The Italian Job, I thought of a much snazzier title for the film: Dirk Diggler does Venice.

Whenever I see Mark Wahlberg cast as a leading man, I grow nostalgic for Boogie Nights, the movie that definitively showed the world that Marky Mark could really act. But since his portrayal of Diggler, Wahlberg has been trying to chisel himself into a bona fide leading man. After his disastrous attempts at filling the shoes of Charleton Heston and Cary Grant in Planet of the Apes and The Truth About Charlie respectively, The Italian Job provides Wahlberg with the best vehicle for his run for leading man glory. And when I say vehicle, I mean it literally - the real star of this movie is the Mini Coopers - BMW relaunched the line of ultra-tiny sport cars in 2002. Wahlberg is not a man of the tallest stature - this is made abundantly clear when he struts alongside Donald Sutherland among the palazzos of Venice – so he fits perfectly into the Mini.

The filmmakers of The Italian Job fortunately knew that to make Wahlberg stand out, it’s all about the packaging, whether it be a prosthetic penis, a Mini-Cooper, or supporting cast -- in The Italian Job, Wahlberg is lucky enough to be equipped with two of the three. As part of the Italian cast, Wahlberg shows he can hold his own, just like in the ensemble pieces Boogie Nights and Three Kings. He plays the ringleader of a group of thieves set to steal $34 million in gold bullion in Venice. His Italian Funky Bunch includes second-in-command Steve (Edward Norton); the computer whiz Lyle (Seth Green); the getaway driver, Handsome Rob (Jason Statham), and Left-Ear (Mos Def), the demolitions expert. Sutherland plays John Bridger, the group’s father figure, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise when the old guy who lovingly bolsters the young crew meets an early demise. (What is it with Sutherland and Venice? He had similar difficulties in bidding adieu to the city of canals in the 1973 thriller Don’t Look Now.)

The Venice job ends with Steve betraying the group and leaving them for dead. Then the action shifts to Los Angeles where the surviving members band together to get back what they rightfully stole first.

The movie, of course, is a remake of the 1969 The Italian Job starring Michael Caine. Though mostly a flat picture, the original comes to life when the Minis hit the road in Turin, Italy. Since Minis can maneuver through nooks and crannies most vehicles can’t, watching the Caine-led Minis flee from the polizia becomes a dizzying spectacle.

The Minis are the primary DNA strand between the remake and the original, yet with 33 years between the two films, and car chases becoming increasingly inventive, it’s surprising that the climactic chase of the remake proves less ambitious than the original. In the original, there’s a point where the three Minis drive up the outside of a huge domed structure to shake off the police. Even though the building doesn’t look like anything you would find in Turin, it’s a fun and memorable detour. In the remake, police aren’t even in the picture. It’s more a cat and mouse chase between seasoned thieves - which should amplify the inventive chase potential, right? But the remake’s most memorable Mini moment - one car’s face/off against a helicopter - lacks the clever Mini maneuvering you’d expect, making the whole set-up seem wasted. Still, director F. Gary Gray gamely has the Minis bop over Hollywood Walk of Fame and through the LA subways, which adds a nice American touch for the remake.

Though the remake retains a few key ingredients from the original – some on-location shooting in Italy and the aforementioned Mini-Coopers – fortunately, that’s it. The writers of the remake, Wayne Powers and Donna Powers, wisely chose to base this Job more on betrayal and payback. The British filmmakers of the swinging original could assume audiences would root for Caine as a morally ambiguous bank-robber just looking to cause big trouble in a foreign country. But such a premise wouldn’t fly on this side of the pond, post 9/11. Though a heist flick at heart, the remake is rooted more in the vengeance thriller vein. In most heist movies, you’re guessing who will be double-crossed; in The Italian Job they get the double-cross out in the open early. For the rest of the movie, the protagonists plan a new heist intended to undo said double-cross.

As the double-crosser in the remake, Edward Norton unsurprisingly plays the adversary role with brilliance. All of his lines are delivered with razor-sharp ruthlessness. Too bad the writers get sloppy and stick him with cliché bad guy lines like “your father begged for mercy when I killed him” and “I liked him right up until the moment I shot him.” We’ve heard these lines from the lips of evildoers for so long that they’ve lost all resonance.

Also - and this comment’s for the make-up department - not every double-crosser needs to have the facial hair of Snidely Whiplash. Apparently, whenever someone with boyish good looks like Norton is supposed to look evil, they just need a goatee. Hey, it worked when David Hasselhoff was given the challenging task of playing the evil twin of his Michael Knight in the '80s TV series Knight Rider. All Hasselhoff needed was a goatee to pull off the acting stunt. Perhaps taking a cue from Hasselhoff, Norton is able to anchor his character’s evil in his oily black goatee.

But Norton’s performance stands out not only for his talent, but also as an example of how an actor can redeem himself when given a second chance. You see, The Italian Job provides Norton a second chance to play a double-crosser in a heist film. In 2001’s mediocre heist movie The Score, Norton’s talent couldn’t puncture the bloated production. That heist film suffered from too few double-crosses, too many clichés, and too many method actors (DeNiro, Brando, Norton).

Norton’s not the only lead to sign up for the second chance plan that is The Italian Job. Wahlberg and Statham also redeem themselves from earlier roles that bear a remarkable resemblance to their Job character-types. (Warning: the following ironies are abundant so read closely.) By acting in Job, Wahlberg redeems himself from his last movie, the flop The Truth About Charlie - also a remake of another 60’s caper film - in which he played a role very similar to his Charlie character in Job. Similarly, Statham redeems himself from his portrayal of getaway driver in his last movie, the ultra-dumb The Transporter, with his performance in The Italian Job as - you guessed it - a getaway driver. I guess fortune favors the typecast. Statham displays a more fine-tuned handling of his persona this time around. And in The Italian Job, Wahlberg’s third remake in a row, it’s safe to say that though he can’t match Caine’s droll performance, he makes the character his own.

As for the other cast members, I can’t say enough about Seth Green and Mos Def. Both actors bring a lot of style and wit to their roles. Green’s Lyle insists he is the real inventor of Napster, which was stolen by his college roommate (portrayed very cleverly by the actual Shawn Fanning in a brief cameo) while he was taking a nap, thus the name. Green has crafted his petulance into a valuable commodity. As for music artist Mos Def, though an acting neophyte, he displays deft comic timing. And Charlize Theron, once again playing the hottie in a tug of war between the good guy and the bad guy, goes demure for this role. As the crew’s safe-cracker, she drops her usual sex kitten preening and convincingly plays the distraught daughter of John Bridger.

Many of Hollywood’s heist movies presume appearing ultra-cool means lacing on a retro '70s veneer, like Ocean’s 11. The fresh young faces and hip hop tempo of The Italian Job yield a cool less conceited and thus stands apart. The Italian Job shows a movie can go without referencing the Rat Pack and laying on a groovy '70s score by David Holmes, and still have cool and class to burn. Ocean’s 11 is your cool Uncle Joe’s heist film. The Italian Job is your hip older brother’s heist film.

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