Parker

(2013, US, Incentive Filmed Entertainment/Sierra Pictures/Sidney Kimmel Entertainment)

Dir. Taylor Hackford; Pro. Les Alexander, Steven Chasman, Taylor Hackford, Sidney Kimmel, Jonathan Mitchell; Scr. John J. McLaughlin; Cast Jason Statham, Jennifer Lopez, Michael Chiklis, Wendell Pierce, Clifton Collins Jr., Emma Booth, Nick Nolte, Daniel Bernhardt.

118 min.

Standard Statham head cracker bolstered by a decent cast and a steady pulse. He plays Parker, a crim’ with a conscience who will shoot a guy in the kneecaps and then call for an ambulance. When a crack team of hastily assembled thieves double cross him after a bank heist in Texas, he’s shot and left for dead. But Parker survives, jetting to Florida to seek revenge and thwarting the team’s next target – a jewellery auction worth several million. Parker’s morals extend to his long suffering girlfriend, as he somehow resists the rather obvious charms of real estate agent JLo who ends up assisting him on his rampage. Nick Nolte also appears as a well connected father in law – an old time crook with vague mafia connections who talks like he’s passing a kidney stone. The brief violence is consistent with The Stath’s visceral track record; the most punishing being a knife brawl with Daniel Berhardt in a Palm Beach mansion in which the pugilists smash through every conceivable interior hazard in a matter of minutes. Statham’s grizzled charm carries the film and further highlights the Brit’s acceptance from the mainstream Hollywood machine.