The Italian Job (2003)

The Italian Job is a 2003 heist film directed by F. Gary Gray. The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton, Seth Green, Jason Statham, Mos Def, and Donald Sutherland. It is an American remake of the 1969 British film of the same name, and is about a team of thieves who plan to steal gold bullion from a former associate who double crossed them. Despite the shared title, the plot and characters of this film differ from those of its source material; Gray described the film as "an homage to the original." Most of the film was shot on location in Venice and Los Angeles, where canals and streets, respectively, were temporarily shut down during principal photography. Produced by Paramount Pictures, The Italian Job was theatrically released in the United States on May 30, 2003, and grossed over $176 million worldwide. Critical response was generally positive, with publications highlighting the action sequences. The prominence of the BMW Mini Cooper automobiles in the film has been seen as a contemporary example of product placement. A sequel, The Brazilian Job, has reportedly been in development since 2004, but has yet to be produced as of 2010.

In Venice, retired safecracker John Bridger (Sutherland) calls his daughter Stella Bridger (Theron) and tells her that he will participate in his final heist. John then meets up with Charlie Croker (Wahlberg) before setting the heist into motion. Their team consists of themselves and four others: Steve (Norton) is the "inside man", Handsome Rob (Statham) is a getaway driver, Left Ear (Def) is an explosives expert, and Lyle (Green) is a technical expert. The heist is a success, but Steve betrays them all by taking the gold for himself; he kills John Bridger and leaves the rest of the team for dead. A year later in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Stella is using her safe cracking expertise to break into vaults as an assistant to law enforcement personnel. The team has tracked Steve down, and Charlie recruits Stella to participate with the team in stealing the gold from Steve since she has the required skill and motivation. The team travels to Los Angeles, California to begin their surveillance of Steve's house and plan the heist. Meanwhile, Steve attempts to sell his gold through a money launderer (Krutonog), but kills him when the launderer begins asking questions about the source of the gold. However, the money launderer is a cousin of a local Ukrainian Mafia boss (Krupa), who subsequently seeks vengeance for his cousin's murder. The team's initial plan is to have Steve stood up on a date with Stella—who posed as a cable repair woman to get into Steve's house and locate his safe—while the team would break into Steve's house, load the gold into three Mini Coopers modified by Rob's mechanical friend Wrench (Franky G), and use hacked traffic lights to make their escape. However, Charlie is forced to call the plan off because of a local party, which would witness the heist's execution. To maintain her cover, Stella goes on the date with Steve, but he figures out her real identity. Charlie then confronts Steve and promises that he will recover the stolen gold. Now aware that Charlie and his team are alive, Steve makes preparations to move the gold. He obtains three armored trucks and a helicopter from which to monitor the trucks' transit. To counter the shell game, Charlie uses Lyle's control over the Los Angeles traffic system to isolate the one truck containing the gold, which Lyle manages to find, and gridlocks the city. The team then steals the gold from the truck and escape in their trio of Mini Coopers. Steve and his hired security guards pursue them through Los Angeles, and the team manages to lose them all, except Steve. He follows Charlie, but falls into a trap: Charlie has already informed the Ukrainian that Steve is the person they want, and Charlie gives the Ukrainian a portion of the stolen gold. Steve is taken away by the gangsters, and the team split up the remaining gold and raise a toast to Stella's father as they leave Los Angeles on the Coast Starlight. During the credits, a series of scenes show what each member of the team does with their portion of the money.