Most of the team are conventional heroic figures, Jason
Statham, Edward Norton and Mark Wahlberg are all the traditional male lead;
good looking, well built and extremely skilled at their individual roles in the
heist. The Seth Green character is conventional in a different way, he is the
technology obsessed ‘computer nerd’ who talks in phrases that are so
complicated that they are difficult to understand. One of these characters is
seen in almost every action film, for example, Q in the James Bond series and
Simon Peggs character in the Mission Impossible series. The other members of
the team flout the stereotype of a heroic protagonist because Donald Sutherland
is much older, less fit and not as well built as a traditional protagonist. He
becomes like a father figure to the group but still proves himself to be
extremely skilled when he breaks open the safe. Mos Def’s character is the
other member of the team and he breaks the tradition by being extremely
intellectual and well-cultured, for example when he is asked what he would do
with the money he says first edition books, whereas the more stereotypical
characters of the team wish for things that will help them get women.
The two main nationalities represented in this extract are:
American and Italian. However the audience is meant to support the Americans
because they are shown as being professional, polite and well organised,
whereas the Italians are represented as lazy, undisciplined and stupid. This is
most obvious in the boat chase; when the Italian bodyguards fall for a simple
trick by the American heroes that leaves them stranded and in the moment when
the camera moves through the ceiling, from the hard-working, professional heroes
to the lazy bodyguards who are not doing their job but watching TV and smoking.
The audience are supposed to forget the fact that the Americans are the criminals
and the Italians are the ‘good guys’ on the side of the law, and focus more on
the characters themselves and their relationships with each other.
