January 24, 2013 | 6:03 pm

Review: ‘Parker’

Posted by Joan Alperin-Schwartz

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Parker (Jason Statham) is a thief...One of the best around.  But he's not just a thief.  He's a thief with a code...Do what you say...If you don't...there will be consequences.

Parker demands absolute loyalty and strict adherence to the plan from his crew.  Unfortunately that's not what he gets from fellow thieves, Melander (Michael Chiklis), Carlson (Wendell Pierce)  and Ross (Clifton Collins, Jr.)

'Parker' directed by Academy Award nomineeTaylor Hackford, ('Ray') starts out with a daring robbery at the Ohio State Fair that doesn't go so well.  Thanks to the recklessness of one of his men, someone dies.

This leads Parker very pissed off at his crew and declines their invitation to do another job. He just wants his share of the take and to be rid of them. 

His gang however, has another idea. They want to pool all the money and invest it in a major jewel heist.

So when Parker refuses to give up his share, they shoot him and leave him for dead on the side of a deserted road. Lucky for Parker, a very nice couple comes along and saves his life.

Well if they didn't, there would be a movie right?

Even though Parker isn't fully recovered, he wants one thing and one thing only...Revenge.

No one can stop him...Not even his girlfriend, Claire (Emma Booth) or her father and Parker's partner, Hurley (Nick Nolte),

He traces the gang to glitzy Palm Beach where he finds out, they are planning to rob $50 million dollars of jewels.

Needling to discover where the gang is hiding out, Parker poses as a wealthy Texan looking to buy a home.

And guess who's his real estate agent?  It's Miss J Lo, who winds up being extremely helpful to Parker, thanks to her extensive knowledge of Palm Beach..

You can imagine what happens next.  Afterall this is a Jason Statham movie.  That's right...lots of violence, fighting, and of course...lots and lots of...death.

'Parker' was written by John J. McLaughlin ('Black Swan' and 'Hitchcock') based on the novel, 'Flashfire' by Richard Stark aka Donald Westlake. 

It's basically mindless entertainment.  There aren't any surprises and the film gives you two hours of escapist fun...Personally I'd wait to see it on Netflix.

I gave 'Parker' 21/2 bagels out of 5. The film opens Friday January 25, 2012. 

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