Tearing into remakes is a common occurrence in a film critic's life, but sometimes the originals aren't that great in the first place. Despite the reverence that surrounds the classic quote generating The Italian Job (1969), we'd venture to say that it "is not a great film - it's an average film with a great finale. Oh, and another thing: F Gary Gray's remake blows the bloody doors off it." Recovered yet? Now we're going to say nice things about the DVD too...

Small Cars, Small Extras

Paramount is not noted for going overboard with extra features in general, so only getting a handful of featurettes here is no surprise. The good thing about this light package, though, is that there's little room for self-indulgence or boredom to develop.

Slick Menu Change

Cool 3D menus guide you around what's on offer, including a detailed look at the film's stunts. For once, these don't turn out to be a dull exploration of CGI on a computer screen. Director F Gary Gray reckons that audiences are too sophisticated to be fooled by such process shots, and takes us through the impressive physical stunts that were all done for real.

Mighty Minis

Fans of Mini cars should get a kick out of the customisation featurette, while fans of Charlize Theron will no doubt enjoy her gusty contribution to the Driving School extra feature. All this stuff is lightweight entertainment, but it slips by as easy as the movie. Watch out for the outtakes Easter egg lurking in one of the menus.

EXTRA FEATURES

This DVD was reviewed on a JVC XV-N5 DVD player.