Betrayal Is a Bloody Mess (Even With JLo)

 

Parker (2013) – Betrayed by his partners, a thief with a code of
honor goes in search of revenge.

Directed by  Taylor Hackford                                   Starring Jason Statham, Nick Nolte,
Jennifer Lopez,                                                                                                  Patti LuPone, Michael Chiklis

 Why I Liked It: Good Caper Film With Westlake’s
Comic Touch.

 

You have to be able to trust the people you work
with if you’re a criminal. That sounds like a contradiction since
criminals are by nature dishonest. But when Parker (Statham) gets
recruited by a gang going after a big money job, he’s assured that
everyone is a “pro”. It doesn’t work out that way, and he will
hunt down the people who left him for dead at the side of the road.

I started reading Donald Westlake when I was in my
early teens. The combination of crime story and Westlake’s humorous
and affectionate look at his characters grabbed me. Once I left the
Hardy Boys series behind, Westlake is probably the author that I
first binged my way through. I borrowed all the books of his my local
library had. Westlake’s work falls into two broad categories, one
is more comic, the other is darker. The Parker stories fall into the
darker side. Either way, the books are fun. So I was excited to find
one of them made into a movie.

I’m not a huge Statham fan, but I’ve liked
most of what I’ve seen of his work. Here, he gets to work with a
great supporting cast. Nolte is the grizzled veteran crook in
semi-retirement who is the father of Statham’s fiancee. Jennifer
Lopez adds a nice light comedy touch as the struggling real estate
agent who gets sucked into the plan for revenge. Patti LuPone plays
her mother and is amazing in a small but hysterical role. It takes a
great actor to start with so little and make so much out of it.  The two of them are fun to watch.

Unfortunately, the movie never quite manages the
same trick. There’s lots to like here, but Westlake’s balancing
act of comedy and action is hard to pull off consistently. There are
plenty of quality moments here, and that’s more than enough to make
it worth watching.

Rating – *** Worth A Look