PARKER
Parker opens with four men robbing the Ohio State Fair. It’s clear that these men are professionals and that everything is planned to the letter. The camera cuts around crowds of people enjoying themselves, as the crew of bad men meticulously motion for signals in order to draw as little attention as possible. This scenario does an excellent job of pulling us into the action, but the taught drama is cut when the leader of the gang, Parker (Jason Statham), calms a hyperventilating security guard by painting a vivid picture of the man’s happy future. This scene is meant to assure us that even though Parker is a criminal, he’s not a bad guy…not really. And therein lies the problem with Parker, both the film and its protagonist, it never fully decides what it wants to be.
Based off of the novel ‘Flashfire’, by Donald Westlake, this film is one of several previously adapted Parker novels including ‘The Hunter’, adapted in 1967 as Point Blank starring Lee Marvin, and again in 1999 with Payback starring Mel Gibson. Both of those films, however, seem to have no trouble identifying the grim and gritty character and the desperate world in which he lives, which is more than I can say for this latest version.
The plot of Parker is not unlike Point Blank or Payback. After the opening heist, Parker is betrayed by his partners, and spends the rest of the film trying to exact his revenge. The film more or less delivers on its promise of vengeance, but squanders most of its tension by detouring into a subplot involving a down-on-her luck real estate agent, played by Jennifer Lopez. By the time we enter Florida, as Parker searches for his double crossing partners, we are treated to Jason Statham’s terrible Texas accent and an overbearing mother. These later scenes involving Parker and Leslie, bob and weave between drama, romance and comedy, but never fully achieve any of what the filmmaker’s intend.
Throughout Parker, I kept wondering what De Palma or Tarantino would have done with this project. What sort of strong choices would a different writer and director have made? I would love to see more Parker films, but helmed by filmmakers who aren’t afraid to make specific and dangerous choices. And as the film finished with two tacked-on endings, meant to give us the gritty catharsis of revenge and the warm catharsis of safety, the squandered potential is clear.
Parker is a crime film that has most of the right ingredients, but never quite pulls it off. The cast does their best with what they have, but a patchwork script and pithy direction hold them back at every turn. Sadly, Parker is a botched heist, where the loot left behind is a captive audience.
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