Parker follows the title character, skilled thief Parker (played by Jason Statham) who says he doesn't steal from the poor or hurt innocent people. In the opening of the film, after a heist he's doubled crossed by his own crew, lead by Melander (played by the underrated Michael Chiklis), by being shot and left for dead. He survives, and follows them to Palm Beach, Flordia, and swears to get revenge on them. Meanwhile, Parker pretends to be a man named, Daniel Palmer, and enlists help from a real estate agent, Leslie Rodgers (played by Jennifer Lopez), who helps him find out what other plans the crew members have. And from there on, Parker is just a typical and routine action film.
I'll get the good stuff out of the way first. Jason Statham is playing his usual characters that he's known to play, but he does it really well and as I already said before he has lots of charisma and screen presence especially during action scenes. His character is definitely not all that likeable, but Statham does make him a little more likeable than he really is. He's given a lot of weak material to work with, but he does the best with what he's given. There are some action scenes in this movie that really work and while they're nothing special, they are enjoyable for the most part. The best action scene in the movie involves Statham and a sniper in a hotel room, that's all I'll say. I really did like the opening scene for this movie, I thought it was a great way to start of the film, even though I had basically already seen the opening in the trailers and tv spots. But, unfortunately those are really the only positives I can come up with this movie.
Parker is overall just a mess especially the more I think about it. The movie features a really solid cast overall, but honestly other than Jason Statham, the performances in this movie are really just mediocre. Granted, I don't really blame the actors, they're given a weak script to work with. Jennifer Lopez who I actually overall do like as an actress, I really liked her in Out of Sight (well both physically and acting wise), and An Unfinished Life (underrated movie by the way), gives a really bland performance in this movie. Her character is really poorly written, and her and Statham really don't have much chemistry together. Really, Lopez is just in this movie to give eye candy to the male audience which I'm totally fine with, and at 40 something years old she definitely still delivers that so that's one plus I can say. Definitely one of the biggest reasons I was somewhat looking forward to this film was to see Michael Chiklis as basically the main antagonist of the movie, because I've always really liked him as an actor and think he's really underrated. I never really watch The Shield that much, but I do like him in anything I have seen him in. Chiklis is unfortunately though completely wasted in this movie, and plays one of the most one-note and over the top villains I've seen in a long time. Throughout the entire movie, he's nothing more than just angry, and honestly he never really came off as meancing. I was really disappointed in his performance, but again I blame the writting not the actor. Nick Nolte is just playing Nick Nolte, which I'm definitely fine with, but he's really underused as well and about midway through the movie his character is like compltely forgetten and never brought up again. So basically you could put anyone in that role, and you'll still get the same result, but of course they choosed a legendary actor to play a useless character. And everyother performance in the movie I won't bother bringing up because they're seriously not worth talking about.
The script for this film is really all over the place. It is just so convoluted and forced. There's lots of really bad and uninteresting dialogue in this film. And any attempt at any humor falls compltely flat. The relationship and bond that forms between Jason Statham and Jennifer Lopez really brings the film down, and I never really felt any connection between them. The whole sub plot just felt forced, and it just slows down the movie particuarly in the middle act of the film, where I feel like there's literally almost no action. And that's another big problem with this movie, the pacing is so off, and the movie just drags on and on. It's basically 2 hours long, but it feels even longer, and much of that is just due to how weak the story with Jennifer Lopez character is. There's also lots of characters in this film that feel completely unnecessary and add absoutely nothing to the overall movie. And once those characters are out of the film you're asking yourself "WTF were they in this movie." And the film just feels very dull, and bland. I mean there are some attempt at character moments in this movie which I do like, but any of those attempts really just fell flat for me. There's also this sub plot that involves Statham, and his girlfriend (very hot by the way), which didn't really bother me, but there is this one scene in the movie where it felt like they were seriously trying to throw this love triangle into the film, which annoyed the crap out of me, but thankfully they didn't take it that way that's all I'll say. And really the film is just so predictable, and just such a generic revenge action thriller. You can predict absoutely every plot element in this film, and the film just brings nothing new to the genre. There was just one scene in this movie that kept me off guard, and it was the only scene I felt any kind of threat to Jason Statham's character. And with all of the problems this movie has and how flat it is, I really can't believe this film was actually directed by Taylor Hackford, the guy that directed Ray with Jamie Foxx. You would think with that kind of director behind it, the movie would attempt to bring something new and not just pile on cliches after cliches, but it doesn't do that, it felt like Hackford and the whole cast didn't give a crap about this movie at all and they were just doing it for the paycheck. And, after seeing the movie I can't blame them because this is a mediocre movie at best. And the climax in the movie just felt a bit cheap, and rushed. The direction in this movie wasn't terrible, I mean thankfully Hackford doesn't overuse any shaky cam during the action scenes, but it's nothing special either.
Overall, while Parker definitely has its entertaining moments, in the end the film is just a mess, and is just yet again another mediocre January movie. It's got some really cool action scenes, but the film itself is brought down by a bland script, characters that have no purpose to the movie, mediocre performances from good actors, a tedious second act, generic villains and motivations, a rushed climax, and a contrived and convoluted plot. It's not a terrible film, it's definitely better than like The Mechanic thankfully, but it's not a good movie either. In all honestly, it's probably my least favorite movie I've seen so far this year, I think I might even like it slightly less than Broken City. I definitely would skip this one, I really don't think it's worth spending money on, just wait for the rental unless you're a really big Jason Statham fan. I'm glad there's still a lot of good movies out there, because this weekened didn't give us really any good releases. I mean I haven't seen Movie 43 yet, but that's getting some of the worst reviews a movie can possibly get, so I'll probably just wait to rent that one. This film was a bit of a disappointment, and I'll give it an unfortunate 2/5. What a trend of mediocre movies, these last few weeks have been.
FINAL LETTER GRADE: C-, 4.5/10.
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