Mini Cooper 2003 Review

The 21st century version of one of the most famous car movies of all time, The Italian Job, had its world premiere this week.

The reworking of Michael Caine's cult gold heist caper stars the latest Mini Cooper and Mini Cooper S, together with a strong supporting cast of Hollywood names.

Although the world premiere was in Los Angeles, Aussie film fans will have to wait until August 21 to see it.

In the 1968 original, the producers used 14 Minis.

This time 32 cars were provided for filming, with those still in one piece used for promotional work and display at the Heritage Centre in Oxford.

Before the cast were allowed to get their hands on the cars, the film's director, F. Gary Gray, insisted they undergo a course so they were familiar with the car's capabilities.

The patriotic red, white and blue colour scheme of the 1968 Mini Cooper S fleet is echoed in 2003, as are the multitude of elaborate stunt sequences and spectacular jumps.

The new line-up comprises nine blue and nine white Mini Coopers, eight red Mini Cooper S and six pre-production Minis.

The opening scenes of this year's film are set in Venice and the Italian Alps, before the film fast-forwards to Hollywood.

There, the getaway Minis have to contend with gunshots and plenty of narrow scrapes as they duck and dive through LA.

In the new version, Charlie Croker (Mark Wahlberg) pulls off a gold bullion heist from a heavily- guarded palazzo in Venice ¿ only to be double-crossed by one of his crew.

Seeking revenge, Charlie recruits Stella (Charlize Theron), a nerves-of-steel safecracker, and along with his former gang, they pursue the backstabber to California where they plan to re-steal the gold by manipulating traffic signals and creating havoc on the streets of LA.

Making the movie involved taking over the streets of Hollywood for a week.

Theron says: "It's not every day that you get to drive a car on the sidewalk of Hollywood Boulevard over the stars of James Dean and Jean Harlow."

Producer Donald De Line adds: "We controlled the streets [of Hollywood] for a week ¿ and that's a big deal. We had 300 cars and several armoured trucks on the ground, helicopters flying low overhead, and motorcycles and Minis driving over the sidewalk."

Meanwhile, you can catch up with all the antics on the Mini website and the movie website.