Parker: Jason Statham is a Thief With a Unique Code of Ethics [Review]

So it was movie review time last night and this time round it was Jason Statham‘s new action movie Parker, but the big question was “Is the movie going to be more of the same from Statham or something fresh”

Jason Statham plays Parker a thief who has a line of professional ethics when it comes to doing jobs, but after his most recent job he is doubled crossed by his team, Melander (Michael Chilkis), Carlson (Wendell Pierce), Ross (Clifton Collins) and August (Micah A. Hauptman).

The gang leave Parker for dead on the side of the road and head towards another job, unknown  to them Parker is still alive and now he’s out for a little payback after the way he has been treated.

Parker: Jason Statham is Thief With a Unique Code of Ethics [Review]

So Parker is an adaptation of a book by Donald E. Westlake and this isn’t the first time that the Parker character has been adapted to film, there have been others, but the other films changed the character name, for example in Point Blank the character was Walker and in Payback it was Porter.

But all that aside, Jason Statham is up to his usual style in these types of films, ok there is a little less of those moves that he had in the Transporter franchise and he does seem a little cumbersome in some of the fight sequences, but Parker is one of those action movies that you really don’t have to think that hard about.

Jennifer Lopaz is the estate agent, Leslie, who is taken in to Parker’s scheme for payback and though she may bring a little bit of glamour to Statham’s raunchy grizzled look, she really isn’t that impressive in her role.

Director, Taylor Hackford (La Bamba, The Devil’s Advocate, Ray), didn’t really seem to grasp the way that Statham works on action movies and although he is a good director  it seems that with Parker he seemed a little out of his depth and just didn’t have anything that really stood out.

Overall Thoughts For Parker

Parker isn’t a terrible film, it’s not brilliant, but it’s not great either. Parker is one of those films that is enjoyable for its action sequences, fans of Jason Statham will love the film. Even though it did run for under 2 hours it didn’t seem like it.

An Action movie that isn’t on par with Statham’s other movie but still silly and fun.

If you enjoyed reading this post, then please remember to post a comment, Subscribe to my RSS feed.