Parker (2013)

Parker is a 2013 American action crime thriller film directed by Taylor Hackford. Starring Jason Statham and Jennifer Lopez, the film is adapted from Flashfire, the 19th Parker novel, written by Donald Westlake under the pen name Richard Stark.

Primarily set in Palm Beach, Florida, the film revolves around professional thief Parker (Statham), who is double-crossed by his crew. He sets out for revenge on them, helped by a real-estate agent (Lopez) in a quest to steal what his former accomplices intend to rob at a jewelry heist.

Parker marked a departure for Hackford, who hoped to make it his first film noir. The film, produced on a "mid-30s" budget, was conceived following Westlake's 2008 death, when producer Les Alexander secured the rights to it.

It premiered in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 24, 2013, and was released in the United States on January 25. Reviews were generally mixed, leaning towards the negative, with many film critics feeling that it was a poor adaptation of the book, and typical of Statham's sub-par action films of the past few years. Others found Statham well-fitted for the role of Parker and praised Lopez for providing comedic relief. It grossed $48.5 million worldwide at the box office.

Synopsis

Parker (Jason Statham) is a professional thief, specializing in big robberies, who follows a unique code—he doesn't steal from the poor or hurt innocent people. His mentor Hurley (Nick Nolte) asks him take charge of a job with a crew he doesn't know, consisting of Melander (Michael Chiklis), Carlson (Wendell Pierce), Ross (Clifton Collins Jr.), and Hardwicke (Micah Hauptman). The job, taking the gate money from the Ohio State Fair, is successful, but Hardwicke ignored instructions, resulting in him needlessly killing a man in a fire that was set as a distraction.

Actors