Film Review - Parker

I like watching Jason Statham in action, he makes a good action star and has some excellent moves on him. In fairness he tends to play the same character in all of his films (with some minor variations), I don't hold that against him, I like that character and it works well in a lot of stories. Unfortunately it doesn't work so well in this one.

It starts well with a slick robbery in which he shows himself to be the skilled, calm member of the team (he plays the honourable criminal capable of handling himself in this film). The team then double crosses him and leaves him for dead, so he quite rightly starts hunting him down.

For this type of film to work you need three things, the first is a decent hero which it has. The second is a decent enemy, which it lacks, sort off. The crew have some familiar faces and almost make a good team for the hero to pit his skills against. The team don't really match their skills, in fact the only real peril Statham has is against a contract knife man (which is admittedly a good fight).

The third is that of a gimmick or a sidekick, here the film does a little better. Jennifer Lopez plays a sexy real estate who is down on her luck and see Statham as a potential client. She figures out what is going on and becomes more involved in the plot. She doesn't really really raise the film to any great height, but she isn't too annoying.

In fairness this wasn't ever likely to be a great film and if you like action then he's done better films, but it's not terrible and it did entertain me for an hour and a half.

PARKER a slick, fast-paced, action-packed crime thriller starring Jason Statham (The Expendables 2, Safe), Jennifer Lopez (The Back-up Plan, Out of Sight) and Nick Nolte (Gangster Squad), is directed by the Oscar®-winning filmmaker Taylor Hackford (Ray) and based on the best-selling Parker novel Flash Fire by Richard Stark. Parker (Statham), is a hardened professional criminal who will do whatever it takes to get what he wants, living by his own code of ethics - don t steal from people who can t afford it and don t hurt people who don t deserve it. But when he s double-crossed by his crew and left for dead, it s time for payback. Assuming a disguise and forming an unlikely alliance with a sexy local Palm Beach resident (Lopez), he tracks down the gang, aiming to take everyone out and hijack the score of their latest heist.

Parker is available from Amazon (and is a fun watch)