This is a remake of a 1969 film of the same name which starred, among others, Michael Caine, and believe it or not, Benny Hill. I never saw it and don't know anyone who did, but the word that describes the remake is "stylish".
From the sets to the dialogue to the always-lookable Charlize Theron, this film sets up the typical "old man coming out of retirement for one last job" -- Donald Sutherland -- and the job gets pulled off without a hitch. Well, except for the doublecross pulled by a very evil-looking Edward Norton, and the twist is, that Theron is Sutherland's daughter, and she's a safecracker by trade (how convenient!), so the rest of the gang manages to entice her in the obligatory plot to get back the gold they stole.
This could be trite, but instead is done... well, stylishly. There's a running joke about the Napster file-sharing service which could have rolled your eyes, but instead is thrown in at clever moments, and if you didn't love the new Mini Cooper cars before, you will now. Mark Wahlberg plays the gang leader with a wink in his eye, and Seth Green is the computer whiz, though I was having trouble seeing him as anything but Scott Evil in the "Austin Powers" movies.
There are the obligatory car chases... and explosions... but they're all done, well, stylishly. I loved this film, it's really cool summer escapist thriller fare.
I only wish the lights had been up in the theater when we came in, because we almost tripped over some people. Only when they started the too-loud 20 minutes of commercials did they bring the lights up to "dim". They did wind up turning them off when the feature started.
AYRating: *** 1/2
From the sets to the dialogue to the always-lookable Charlize Theron, this film sets up the typical "old man coming out of retirement for one last job" -- Donald Sutherland -- and the job gets pulled off without a hitch. Well, except for the doublecross pulled by a very evil-looking Edward Norton, and the twist is, that Theron is Sutherland's daughter, and she's a safecracker by trade (how convenient!), so the rest of the gang manages to entice her in the obligatory plot to get back the gold they stole.
This could be trite, but instead is done... well, stylishly. There's a running joke about the Napster file-sharing service which could have rolled your eyes, but instead is thrown in at clever moments, and if you didn't love the new Mini Cooper cars before, you will now. Mark Wahlberg plays the gang leader with a wink in his eye, and Seth Green is the computer whiz, though I was having trouble seeing him as anything but Scott Evil in the "Austin Powers" movies.
There are the obligatory car chases... and explosions... but they're all done, well, stylishly. I loved this film, it's really cool summer escapist thriller fare.
I only wish the lights had been up in the theater when we came in, because we almost tripped over some people. Only when they started the too-loud 20 minutes of commercials did they bring the lights up to "dim". They did wind up turning them off when the feature started.
AYRating: *** 1/2