"The Italian Job" works in several ways. There are considerable intricacies in the building of a movie based on a heist of gold bars which takes considerable planning, further complicated by an unexpected double-cross by one gang member who wants most of the $34 million for himself. There is some originality in the chases, taking a trio of MINIs through a crowded railroad station and speedboats that far exceed the 5 mph limit in Venice, Italy. We're made privy to the importance of team playing, each character using his or her own special talents to make the heist successful.

We in the audience could probably figure out what's needed to load a safe full of $34 million in gold bars out of its palazzo where it's guarded 24/7. You'd want a brilliant safecracker, and you get it with Stella (Charlize Theron), who works for companies that need her to test the newest security devices. You'd want a computer hacker who could get into a city's traffic controls to speed your vehicles on their way while causing other traffic to back up behind red lights; you get that with Lyle (Seth Green). Charlie Croker (Mark Wahlberg) intricately plans every step of the robbery behind the leadership of safecracker John (Donald Sutherland), who is the father of the beautiful Stella. Handsome Rob (Jason Statham) provides the driving skill and the exotic British accent while Left-Ear (Mos Def), deafened in one year by an explosion set years back in his school, knows explosives.

"The Italian Job" takes us from St. Marks Plaza in Venice to the Austrian mountains, then to Philadelphia and L.A. as gang members, thought by double-dealing Steve (Ed Norton) to be dead, cannot rest easy after pulling off a job requiring split- second timing. They must parlay their expertise into finding Steve and recovering the gold bars that were taken from them.

If you're looking for plot holes, you'll find them easily enough. For example, how did handsome Rob know that he could get a sleep-over date with a policewoman (Gloria Fontenot), which would enable him to steal her truck and make use of her uniform? How did the gang know, as they sped with their MINIs through a railroad station, that they would not hit pedestrians, thereby causing us to lose sympathy with them and foil their operation? All that comes with the conventions of caper movies, allowing us to suspend disbelief long enough to enjoy the twists of the plot, Ed Norton's skill at playing the heartless villain, and some stunning scenery of Venice and Charlize.