Review of Parker (2013) by Tss5078 — 12 Feb 2014

Jason Statham is THE action hero of generation X, and may be one of the best action heroes of all time. The man seems to channel elements of Willis, Stallone, & Schwarzenegger into every film he does, not to mention he is one of the hardest working actors in Hollywood.

At first his films got a reputation for moving too fast and being a bit confusing, but with every film, he has gotten better and better, and to date his crowning achievement is Parker. Parker is a thief for hire, one of the best money can buy.

When an old friend hooks him up with an ambitious crew, Parker is eager to get started on a job, that promises seven figures. The job goes off without a hitch, but on the way back the crew lets Parker know that this was just seed money for a much larger and almost impossible job.

When Parker refuses to partake, he winds up left for dead on the side of the road, with only one thing on his mind, revenge. This film puts a new twist on a classic story and it is done to near perfection by a top star and veteran Director, Taylor Hackford (Ray, The Devil's Advocate).

Statham makes the story with his best performance to date and has plenty of help to ensure this movie is his crown jewel. The list of Emmy and Academy Award winners is this film is staggering. I won't list them all, as you can see the full cast on IMDB, but when you put that many stars together, the result is almost always going to be magic.

In the end the film does turn out to be somewhat predictable, but it's one of those times where you really just don't care. Parker is two hours of excitement with all the comedy, explosions, twists, and turns you could hope for.

I can't possibly recommend it enough for fans of the Action genre. In an Action film it's hard to get a good cast and even harder to get a decent story to go with the mayhem, but Parker has that an more.

It is a textbook example of what an Action film should be and I really liked it.