The Italian Job (2003 film)



For the original 1969 film, see here.

The 2003 remake of The Italian Job was directed by F. Gary Gray and stars Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton, Seth Green, Jason Statham, Mos Def, and Donald Sutherland. It was described by Gray as "an homage to the original". For this reason, fans of the original movie often dismiss it as Fanon Discontinuity. Less stuffy types, however, can take it as a quality action flick in its own right, with simple but effective trope execution, and excellent action sequences.

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This film contains the following tropes:
"Left Ear: I don't do dogs. I had a real bad experience, man.
 * Accidental Pervert: Charlie walks in on Stella when she's in her underwear. While she's practicing cracking a safe.
 * Artifact Title: Most of the movie takes place in Los Angeles, but it's all set into motion by The Job they did in Italy.
 * Boring Insult
 * Cable Guy Infiltration
 * Cameo: Well, not quite. The Big Bad is watching The Italian Job on DVD, but all we ever see is a part of Michael Caine so they wouldn't have to pay royalties by showing his face.
 * Also, that really was the creator of Napster playing himself stealing the idea from Lyle in college.
 * Caper Rationalization: "You know it was never about the gold, right?"
 * The Charmer: Handsome Rob
 * City of Canals: The titular caper is pulled off in Venice at the beginning of the movie.
 * Cool Car: The Aston Martin Vanquish that Handsome Rob plans to buy
 * Stella owns the same red Mini Cooper SS from the 1969 film.
 * The Crime Job: Not only the movie itself, but also its planned sequel The Brazilian Job.
 * Development Hell: The planned sequel, The Brazilian Job. It was first announced in 2004 and as of now has no current projected release date
 * Double Caper
 * Everything Is Online: Hacking the traffic light system of an entire city to cause a gridlock? Check.
 * Five-Man Band
 * The Hero: Charlie (stealthy thief)
 * The Lancer: Left Ear (explosives)
 * The Big Guy: Handsome Rob (wheel man)
 * The Smart Guy: Lyle (computer genius)
 * The Chick: Stella (safe cracker)
 * Gag Dub: Lyle (Seth Green) does this while Handsome Rob (Jason Statham) chats up a young girl with the aim of seducing her and getting her ID card. Bonus points in that Seth Green improv'd his dialogue.
 * Also counts as an Actor Allusion given Seth Green's Voice Actor credentials.
 * Hey It's That Guy: Dirk Diggler, Chev Chelios, Aileen Wuornos, Ford Prefect and Scott Evil team up against The Narrator to avenge Hawkeye Pierce. Oscar Martinez is the security gaurd
 * Hollywood Hacking
 * Not necessarily, according to Cracked article, hacking into a traffic light system in the manner done in the film is very much in the realm of possiblity.
 * Impossible Mission Collapse: The original plan gets foiled by a cocktail party.
 * Ironic Nickname: Skinny Pete.
 * The Mafiya: The Ukrainians.
 * Mission Control: Lyle, especially during the end chase.
 * Model Planning: The thieves build a replica practice course in a warehouse to practice driving their escape route, and also have a CGI animation on their computer of the car as if it were traversing the actual route in real time for no apparent reason.
 * And then it turns out to be a Shaggy Dog Story when the Big Bad alters his plans and so do they.
 * Money, Dear Boy: Edward Norton made no secret he was forced to do this film as a contractual requirement with Paramount. He had signed a three-film deal with them, the first of which was Primal Fear, but kept passing on scripts for the other two films until Paramount basically threatened to sue him unless he fulfilled his obligation to the studio.
 * Nakama: Charlie's group may be thieves, but they're also family.
 * Noodle Incident:

Charlie: What happened?

Left Ear: I had a bad experience. Dammit, I'm deaf."

"Steve: What the FUCK happened to my truck?!"
 * Precision F-Strike: Steve towards the end.


 * Something Only They Would Say: The villain realizes that he's on a date with Bridger's daughter when she uses her father's trademark phrase, "I trust everyone; I just don't trust the devil inside them."
 * Stock Subtitle: In the UK, the film was titled "The Italian Job: L.A. Heist" to differentiate from the original film, and to help stem complaints that most of the film takes place in Los Angeles. That being said, if they were going to add the "L.A. Heist" subtitle anyway, why didn't they just call it that in the first place?
 * Take Five: Skinny Pete tells his girl, "Go relax, babe," when he wants to have a private meeting with someone.
 * Turn in Your Badge: Parodied. Handsome Rob gets stuck in traffic behind an actor practicing his lines for a cop movie.
 * Xanatos Gambit: Either they steal the gold and get away, or Steve tracks them down and.
 * You Fail Physics Forever: During the planning stages, the crew decides on using MINI Coopers because they fit in the hallways of Steve's house. The cars would fit, but they certainly wouldn't be able to turn the 90 degree corners.
 * You Keep Telling Yourself That