"The Italian Job" review

Man. This is movie is fun. Wait. This is movie is Fun, with a capital F. I think Hollywood should take note. This is what kind of movie you can get when you.......

1. Realize that not every movie has to have a who's who of "stars" and instead has a "who's who" of good role actors. Sometimes when movies decide to have this big long laundry list of huge stars, what the audience usually gets on screen are scenes where each actor tries to one up the next person too see who IS the bigger star. Or you'll get really awkward performances of actors trying to act cool instead of just being cool on their own merits.

What the "Italian Job" decided to do was to get some really great character actors who each fills a niche that in turn leads to a really tight ensemble. Some movies will just get a bunch of big names and throw them in a room to see what happens. On "The Italian Job," F. Gary Gray cast a bunch of people who have great chemistry together and seem to enjoy one another's presence on screen, instead of viewing each other as a nuissance. In all honesty, there are a lot bigger names than Mark Wahlberg, Seth Green, Mos Def, Charlize Theron, and Jason Statham. Probably the only person in this movie who is a downright star is Edward Norton. But even he is a good enough actor that he's able to become part of the bigger ensemble feel that the movie strives to attain. But despite the lack of huge name recognition, each actor performed their role BRILLIANTLY.

But this isn't to say that there is a lot of great acting in "The Italian Job." The way I see it, this movie is a lot like a really well crafted house made by a bunch of really skilled blue collared people. There isn't anything TOO flashy in terms of their acting, but they each do their own little part to make something bigger than what you might think their name wattage warrants.

Edward Norton and Mark Wahlberg really make the most of their limited screen time. Nothing too flashy from either one, but just some nice overall acting. Edward Norton is so good in general, that he's able to bring a lot even to a role as small as his role in "The Italian Job." I could tell that this was a type of role that he's been wanting to play for a long time. I think he was really into playing the moustachioed bad guy. Mark Wahlberg was pretty good and did some nice little things in his role. Seth Green, Mos Def, and Jason Statham added some nice little character moments in some of the scenes.

2. Get a director who actually has some kind of skill to direct a movie. F. Gary Gray really proved capable of crafting a finely tuned movie with "The Italian Job." He wasn't asked to re-invent the wheel with this, and I think he was well aware of that. But it's movies like this that can make or break you. If you can make a movie like this, and do it really well done, as well as earn a little money on top of that, it'll usually lead to more ambitious and personal projects. F. Gary Gray did some pretty nice things in this movie though. He handled each of the actors without letting one of them take over. Perhaps his greatest skill displayed in this movie was work on the actual heist itself. I think that he clearly understood the different ways to film a boat and car chase sequence without turning it into some kind of parody of a chase that he had seen before.

I guess some people could make a case that "The Italian Job" could be a sister or brother to "Ocean's Eleven." They're both pretty lighthearted in what they set out to do. One had the flash (Ocean's Eleven) and one has the action (The Italian Job). I guess a case could be made. But in my opinion, the world is big enough for two really great capers, why compare the two?