neumu [ cinematronic ]




	The Italian Job
	F. Gary Gray Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton, Donald Sutherland, Seth Green, Jason Statham, Mos Def 2003		Remakes of beloved old films are lately the rage, even though these "reinventions" range from top to bottom on the quality scale. For instance, the new version of the nifty 1969 caper movie "The Italian Job" is a good deal better than the recent, crummy re-do of "Charade" ("The Truth About Charlie"), but it's not quite up to the sly update of "Bob le Flambeur" ("The Good Thief"). As popcorn-gobbling fun goes, this modernization of "The Italian Job" will empty a jumbo-sized bag in no time. A lot of it has to do with the casting, which is peachy. Mark Wahlberg, so out of his league playing the Cary Grant part in "The Truth About Charlie," is much more at home here as Charlie Croker, streetwise mastermind behind a gold-bullion robbery that goes down, then goes bad, in Venice, Italy. Besides versatile Edward Norton as Croker's calculating cohort, veteran Donald Sutherland as Croker's mentor-in-crime, and silken Charlize Theron as a sexy safecracking expert, attention-grabbing actors Jason Statham, Seth Green and Mos Def fill supporting roles. A double-cross and a subsequent plan for revenge make for edge-of-seat action sequences, creatively conducted by director F. Gary Gray.