MovieChat Forums > The Italian Job (2003) Discussion > A decent remake, but not as good as the ...

A decent remake, but not as good as the original

posted 8 years ago by jgroub
3 replies | jump to latest

It just so happens that I just saw the original for the first time a few weeks back, and I saw this one just now, so I'm able to make a good comparison between the two of them.

First off, the original was just okay - until the heist in the last part of the movie. There were far too many characters and I didn't care about any of them. But the heist? The chase? That was amazing! And I won't say a word about that ending. Only one of the best endings to a movie EVER in the history of cinema. Completely, totally, absolutely made up for the first two-thirds/three-quarters of the movie and redeemed it entirely.

This? It's kind of a remake. Sort of the same idea updated to modern times - slightly - and set in LA instead of Turin. I will give this movie props for its character development. I cared about these characters. The revenge plot was definitely much more interesting and well-done.

But the heist? The ending? Meh. They had an opportunity to do so much more here, and they just didn't. They could have far surpassed the original movie - or even just tried to equal it - and they flat out didn't. At all. The driving was good, but it was stellar. It wasn't amazing. It didn't make my jaw drop open.

If you're going to take a great heist/driving movie and remake it, well, why even bother unless you're going to redo it times ten? What a waste.

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[–] oldgoatee 8 years ago

One reason I liked the more recent version was that in the original the valiant little Minis were ignominously rolled down a mountain. The Wahlberg version didn't have any gratuitous cruelty to heroic little cars...

[–] jmillerdp 8 years ago

Yeah! The Minis take quite a pounding in the original! Not to mention before the heist when they're testing them out, and they have wreck after wreck!

I. Drink. Your. Milkshake! [slurp!] I DRINK IT UP! - Daniel Plainview - There Will Be Blood

[–] clark_gillies 8 years ago

Original is a timeless classic (though I will agree that its more character driven before it gets into the real action) but I also think this version is good.

Its using the Italian Job name, but clearly it stops trying to be this very fast and soon becomes a Oceans meets Fast & Furious Movie.

Problem is it does not really know if its a Ocean's Movie or a Fast and Furious Movie (both of which came out just before this movie)..... and while Fast & Furious was probably more appealing to the Muscle Car and Boy Racer crowds, IJ did not really fit into this at the time (as the cars actually play a VERY small role in the actual story... so are not as iconic as in the original) and also the plot and heist is not as intriguing as the type you get in a Ocean's movie (there is no surprise curve ball in this movie, as everything just falls to neatly into place....yet they also do over clomplex the heist so you do get lost a little butit).

Also I think its let down somewhat by the acting of the two main male characters..... Ed Norton is clearly doing this movie with a gun against his head from the studio and not caring.... yet he is still out shining Wahlberg.