This is a very good film that pulls off the rare task in outperforming its original.
The red, white and blue Mini Cooper S coupes look incredible in the 2.35:1 1080p HD-DVD transfer. This release may not equal "Sahara" or the stunning "Æon Flux," but finds itself resting comfortably on the next tier of picture quality. The image is sharp and very colorful, whereas the colors are perfectly saturated and nicely contrasted. Never does the picture quality not appear sharp and highly detailed. It may not possess the incredible three-dimensional appearance of "Æon Flux" and is slightly inferior to "Sahara," but this is one of the better releases from Paramount and rivals "Four Brothers" in picture quality. Black levels are deep and dark. Shadow detail is fine. There is no film grain to riddle the viewing experience and the source materials are quite pristine.
Sound:
Going down the list, Paramount has again provided English 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus, English 5.1 DTS, French 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus. This has been the norm for the Paramount releases and as usual, the soundtrack is quite good, though "The Italian Job" does not possess the type of soundtrack that will blow your socks off. The big chase seen with the trio of Mini Coopers is the best audible moments in the film and has the most aggressive usage of the surround mix in the film. Sadly, the engine sounds of the Mini Cooper seem a bit muffled and not nearly as dramatic as one would hope. The film sounds like a good movie soundtrack, but does not sound lifelike as one would expect with the latest and greatest technology. The 5.1 mix is decent enough, but the .1 LFE channel and the rear surrounds are not utilized much at all during the film, sans the chase sequence. Dialogue is crisp and clear and there are no discernable problems with the way "The Italian Job" sounds on HD-DVD, but it just doesn´t rival the soundtracks of most of the other Paramount releases.
Extras:
The original standard definition release of "The Italian Job" was billed as a "Special Collector´s Edition." That release was a little light in bonus materials and they are all carried over to this new HD-DVD release, but continue to feel a bit light. Of course, for my benefit, much of the supplements do with the terrific trio of Coopers. The majority of supplements on the disc are short featurettes. There is nothing substantial, but what is provided is still worthwhile to check out. Pedal to the Metal: The Making of The Italian Job runs for a bit more than fifteen minutes and is about as cookie-cutter as you can get when it comes to Electronic Press Kit making of featurettes. This is a nice look at the film, but deals with marketing more than it does substance.
Putting the Words on the Page for The Italian Job finds a couple minutes of screen time with writers Wayne and Donna Powers. They discuss different ideas they had for the new rendition of the film´s story. The Italian Job - Driving School is a five minute look at the cast of the film and their experiences and feelings of preparing for performing the stunts in the Mini Cooper cars. The Mighty Minis of The Italian Job and High Octane: Stunts from The Italian Job are fifteen more minutes of footage about the Mini Cooper. If you love Minis like I do, then these are worth sitting through. Six Deleted Scenes run for eight minutes and most of these feature the Minis. Lots of extra materials that revolve around the Coopers. Finally, a Theatrical Trailer remastered in HD is tossed in. I loved the cars and much of these forty five minutes of extras focused on the cars, but overall the quality of these extra materials were on the disappointing side.
Closing Thoughts:
I really enjoyed watching "The Italian Job" again for this HD-DVD review. I ended up watching it again after a bit of a neck injury sidelined me for a couple of days, so the film was fresh in my mind when I wrote this review. This is an entertaining picture that awes its audience with great stunts and a good ensemble cast. The film rivals "Oceans Eleven" in overall quality and is a nice entry in the emerging ensemble caper genre. The HD-DVD transfer is visually sharp and among the better half of Paramount´s initial batch of ten titles. The soundtrack is good, but does not particularly impress. The same can be said about the value added materials. I enjoyed them because so much of them focused on the little cars that I love. Most do not have my fanaticism for the Mini Cooper S and will likely not find these supplements wroth too much. Everything from the original DVD has been carried over and with the improved visual quality, it may or may not be a worthwhile upgrade. For those that do not have the standard definition release, there is a bit more incentive to purchase this title.
Sound:
Going down the list, Paramount has again provided English 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus, English 5.1 DTS, French 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus. This has been the norm for the Paramount releases and as usual, the soundtrack is quite good, though "The Italian Job" does not possess the type of soundtrack that will blow your socks off. The big chase seen with the trio of Mini Coopers is the best audible moments in the film and has the most aggressive usage of the surround mix in the film. Sadly, the engine sounds of the Mini Cooper seem a bit muffled and not nearly as dramatic as one would hope. The film sounds like a good movie soundtrack, but does not sound lifelike as one would expect with the latest and greatest technology. The 5.1 mix is decent enough, but the .1 LFE channel and the rear surrounds are not utilized much at all during the film, sans the chase sequence. Dialogue is crisp and clear and there are no discernable problems with the way "The Italian Job" sounds on HD-DVD, but it just doesn´t rival the soundtracks of most of the other Paramount releases.
Extras:
The original standard definition release of "The Italian Job" was billed as a "Special Collector´s Edition." That release was a little light in bonus materials and they are all carried over to this new HD-DVD release, but continue to feel a bit light. Of course, for my benefit, much of the supplements do with the terrific trio of Coopers. The majority of supplements on the disc are short featurettes. There is nothing substantial, but what is provided is still worthwhile to check out. Pedal to the Metal: The Making of The Italian Job runs for a bit more than fifteen minutes and is about as cookie-cutter as you can get when it comes to Electronic Press Kit making of featurettes. This is a nice look at the film, but deals with marketing more than it does substance.
Putting the Words on the Page for The Italian Job finds a couple minutes of screen time with writers Wayne and Donna Powers. They discuss different ideas they had for the new rendition of the film´s story. The Italian Job - Driving School is a five minute look at the cast of the film and their experiences and feelings of preparing for performing the stunts in the Mini Cooper cars. The Mighty Minis of The Italian Job and High Octane: Stunts from The Italian Job are fifteen more minutes of footage about the Mini Cooper. If you love Minis like I do, then these are worth sitting through. Six Deleted Scenes run for eight minutes and most of these feature the Minis. Lots of extra materials that revolve around the Coopers. Finally, a Theatrical Trailer remastered in HD is tossed in. I loved the cars and much of these forty five minutes of extras focused on the cars, but overall the quality of these extra materials were on the disappointing side.
Closing Thoughts:
I really enjoyed watching "The Italian Job" again for this HD-DVD review. I ended up watching it again after a bit of a neck injury sidelined me for a couple of days, so the film was fresh in my mind when I wrote this review. This is an entertaining picture that awes its audience with great stunts and a good ensemble cast. The film rivals "Oceans Eleven" in overall quality and is a nice entry in the emerging ensemble caper genre. The HD-DVD transfer is visually sharp and among the better half of Paramount´s initial batch of ten titles. The soundtrack is good, but does not particularly impress. The same can be said about the value added materials. I enjoyed them because so much of them focused on the little cars that I love. Most do not have my fanaticism for the Mini Cooper S and will likely not find these supplements wroth too much. Everything from the original DVD has been carried over and with the improved visual quality, it may or may not be a worthwhile upgrade. For those that do not have the standard definition release, there is a bit more incentive to purchase this title.
Average user rating (1-5):
[release]19436[/release]