Saturday, June 1, 2013

All He Wants Is What He Rightfully Stole... "Parker"


Even thieves have principles.

At least some of them.

The Story:

Our hero, Parker (Jason Statham) is a crook, but one with principles.  He goes in on a job, and expects his fair share of $200,000 from the take.  Unfortunately, Melander (Michael Chiklis) double-crosses him when Parker refuses to put his share up in the stake of another heist.  Shot, abandoned and left for dead along a highway, the other crooks take Parker's share and plan their next ruse.  However, Parker doesn't die that easily, and with the help of a real-estate agent (Jennifer Lopez), Parker is going to get his revenge...

And his $200,000!

Does it sound familiar?

Sounds an awful lot like Payback.

That's because both are based on the same character by the same author.

Statham takes a nice turn as the bad guy with a heart of gold, who only wants what was rightfully his in the first place.

His take on a Texas accent leaves a lot to be desired, but luckily he drops that fairly quickly.

As for the Jennifer Lopez angle... hard to see what, or why this was needed.  She's obviously pining for a big strong man like Parker, yet he's happily married to a girl already, and faithful to a "t".

Principles, remember?

So what should have provided the film with some smoldering chemistry the storyline demanded... well, it just sort of fizzled out.

All in all... it's not bad... it just should've been a bit better.

Final Grade: B-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor:  I could watch it again if it was on, but there are more important Statham films in the queue to be replayed first.

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