The new Jason Statham film “Parker” opened this past weekend to a mere $7 million, landing in the number 5 spot at the box office. Also starring Jennifer Lopez and Oscar nominee Nick Nolte, the film’s performances was surprisingly poor. With the level of talent that was behind this film (directed by Oscar winner Taylor Hackford), it seemed promising – something that could be more substantial than the regular Statham flick. On the contrary, “Parker” is one of the worst action films of Statham’s career so far.
First a quick note on the material on which the film is based. Oscar nominee Donald E. Westlake (“The Grifters”) wrote under the pseudonym Richard Stark where the character Parker has appeared in 24 novels. The first of which (The Hunter) was made into two films, first in 1967 with Lee Marvin as “Walker” in “Point Blank.” The second found Mel Gibson as “Porter” in 1999’s “Payback.” For the first time, Parker has been portrayed as the original fictional criminal’s name.
Based on the novel Flashfire, “Parker” is once again set up and left for dead after a robbery. Unlike in “Payback,” Parker doesn’t care about money – just the principle of getting back at the ones who wronged him. The way he goes about this is to find them squatting in a nice house in Florida by scamming a real estate agent Leslie Rodgers (Jennifer Lopez). This takes up the majority of the plot which takes away from the rare, intense fight scenes and makes the film a little boring. At almost two hours, it’s a bit too much to ask for in a film like this.
The ending is somewhat satisfying, with the film seeming barely decent overall. The real downfall that makes “Parker” almost seem amateur is the sound. It seems 80-90% of it is purely ADR, that is sound that is rerecorded and thrown over the original video’s sound – and it doesn’t match up well at all. It’s obvious they tried to cut around it with establishing shots of buildings, cars, and with wider shots of the action as well. At an estimated $30 million budget, this one will flop and be forgotten real quick – its just disappointing when compared to the potential it had. With no expectations or cares on production value, “Parker” is still semi-decent and a bit of fun – you can never go fully wrong with Jason Statham, especially if you’re a fan.
