This movie revolves around a group of thieves who get played by their own group member. They are now plotting revenge by planning a gold robbery against him.
This unglamorous approach has the odd effect of making them seem more glamorous -- we're free to soak up their star quality because there's no hard sell to fight off.
Observer (UK)
May 06, 2008
Gary Gray's version is tauter, better made but insufficiently idiosyncratic to attract a cult following.
A tricked-out remake of a heist flick that was already flat and formulaic in 1969.
Big Picture Big Sound
December 27, 2007
Gray adds some zip to this remake of the 1969 Michael Caine caper flick, but despite two clever action sequences and some uncharacteristically tight performances from his cast (most notably Charlize Theron and Mark Wahlberg), the con remains the same.
This one offers some agreeably mindless fun in which the villains (including Norton) are truly villainous, the payback is satisfying in a purely infantile way, and the familiarity of everything is oddly comforting.