New York Times
"...[A] sleek, ticking remake....[The film] puts together the familiar elements with an impressive skill and considerable wit....[With] impeccable timing, steady kinetic drive and superbly choreographed chase sequences..." 05/30/2003 p.E13Los Angeles Times
"...A fast and furious action-adventure...The film's big plus is that its director, F. Gary Gray, takes a relaxed, light touch with the proceedings while keeping it all moving briskly..." 05/30/2003 p.C8 Entertainment Weekly
"...Timing is everything in a climax like this, and watching THE ITALIAN JOB, you can feel the audience get in synch with every slashingly edited, technologically split-second moment..." 06/06/2003 p.55 Rolling Stone
"...THE ITALIAN JOB is a triumph for the machines..." 06/26/2003 p.87 Chicago Sun-Times
"...A slick caper movie with stupendous chase scenes....There are a couple of nice dialogue touches..." 05/30/2003 p.35 Total Film
"[T]he eventual heist is carefully engineered by canny scriptwriters to pack in the core elements of any good JOB....[With] some sparky turns and a pair of great robberies..." 04/01/2004 p.121 L.A. Times 9 of 10
Even though the 1969 original Italian Job had Michael Caine in the title role, carrying out the plans of imprisoned criminal mastermind Noel Coward (a role eliminated in the remake), this new version has it all over the original. Writers Donna Powers and Wayne Powers imaginatively rework Troy Kennedy Martin's screenplay for the original film to create a fast and furious action-adventure. The film's comedy counts for as much as the clever and risky ways in which Wahlberg and company go after the nasty Norton, who has holed up in a Bel-Air mansion with a world-class security system. - Kevin Thomas
Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
I saw "The Italian Job" in a Chicago screening room, in the midst of a rush of new summer releases. I recollect it now from the Cannes Film Festival, which has assembled one unendurable film after another for its worst year in memory. That doesn't make "The Italian Job" a better film, but it provides a reminder that we do, after all, sometimes go to the movies just to have a good time and not to be mired in a slough of existential despond. Don't get me wrong. I like a good mire in despond now and again; it's just that the despond at Cannes has been so unadmirable...F. Gary Gray's "The Italian Job," on the other hand, is nothing more, or less, than a slick caper movie with stupendous chase scenes and a truly ingenious way to steal $35 million in gold bars from a safe in a Venetian palazzo. The safe is stolen by a gang led by Donald Sutherland, who must be relieved to note that Venice has no dwarfs in red raincoats this season. His confederates include Charlie (Mark Wahlberg), a strategic mastermind; second-in-command Steve (Edward Norton); the computer whiz Lyle (Seth Green); the getaway driver, Handsome Rob (Jason Statham), and Left-Ear (Mos Def), who can blow up stuff real good...there are nice sequences in which traffic lights are manipulated by the Seth Green character, who hilariously insists he is the real inventor of Napster, which was stolen by his roommate while he was taking a nap, thus the name...There are a couple of nice dialogue touches; Edward Norton is not the first actor to say, "I liked him right up until the moment I shot him," but he is certainly the latest. The ending is suitably ironic. This is just the movie for two hours of mindless escapism on a relatively skilled professional level. - Roger Ebert
James Berardinelli's ReelViews 8 of 10
With this film, Mark Wahlberg is appearing in his third recent re-make (the other two: Planet of the Apes and The Truth About Charlie). Wisely, he doesn't attempt to mimic Michael Caine (who played the part in the original), but instead uses his own brand of understated charisma to get us to like Charlie. Charlize Theron, who is incapable of a low-wattage performance, brings some energy to her scenes with Wahlberg. Seth Green, Jason Stratham, and Mos Def alternately provide background muscle and comic relief. Edward Norton does his best Snidely Whiplash impersonation, right down to the mustache. - James Berardinelli
ReelViews 8 of 10
The 2003 version of The Italian Job is less of a straightforward remake of the 1969 picture than it is a complete re-interpretation. Enough has changed that it's possible to see the two films not as the same story separated by three decades, but as distinct entities. Expectedly, there are plot similarities (the centerpiece heist contains many of the same elements, including the minis), but the chemistry and motivations of the thieves is different, and the playful, semi-comedic tone of the original has been replaced by something a little less lighthearted...It's easy to do a heist movie wrong -- the genre is littered with countless examples, some by prominent filmmakers. F. Gary Gray (director of the recently released A Man Apart) has discovered the right recipe -- keep things moving, develop a nice rapport between the leads, toss in the occasional surprise, and top with a sprinkling of panache. The Italian Job isn't a masterpiece, but it gets the job done. There are some problems (in particular, the climactic car chase -- the one featuring the minis -- goes on a little too long), but, for the most part, I was entertained. There's a fair amount of suspense, and I was generally impressed by the thoroughness of the caper plots...The Italian Job has occasional busts of smart dialogue ("There are [thieves] who steal to enrich their lives, and ones who steal to define their lives"), but not enough to elevate it to the level of David Mamet's most recent caper movie, Heist. And, while it boasts a less fatuous tone than the original (no Noel Coward or Benny Hill), there are times when it goes for the funny bone...The Italian Job delivers all that one could reasonably hope from it, and that makes it worth squeezing in between The Matrix Reloaded and The Hulk. - James Berardinelli
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