Parker (2013)

A thief with a unique code of professional ethics is double-crossed by his crew and left for dead. Assuming a new disguise and forming an unlikely alliance with a woman on the inside, he looks to hijack the score of the crew's latest heist.

Director:

Taylor Hackford

Writers:

John J. McLaughlin (screenplay), Donald E. Westlake (novel)

Stars:

Jason Statham, Jennifer Lopez, Michael Chiklis

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jason Statham	...	Parker
Jennifer Lopez	...	Leslie Rodgers
Michael Chiklis	...	Melander
Wendell Pierce	...	Carlson
Clifton Collins Jr.	...	Ross
Bobby Cannavale	...	Jake Fernandez
Patti LuPone	...	Ascension
Carlos Carrasco	...	Norte
Micah Hauptman	...	August Hardwicke (as Micah A. Hauptman)
Emma Booth	...	Claire
Nick Nolte	...	Hurley
Daniel Bernhardt	...	Kroll
Billy Slaughter	...	Ohio State Fair Security Guard Ben
Jon Eyez	...	Jack
Carl J. Walker	...	Ohio State Fair Accounts Manager (as Carl Walker)

Storyline

Parker is a thief who has an unusual code. He doesn't steal from the poor and hurt innocent people. He is asked to join 4 other guys on a job. They pull it off flawlessly. They tell Parker that what they got can help them set up another job which will net them much more. But Parker doesn't want to join them and asks for his share. But they need it all so they try to kill him. They dispose of his body but someone finds him and he is still alive and takes him to the hospital. After recovering he sets out to get back at the ones who tried to kill him, another one of his codes. Despite being told that they are working for a known mobster which he was not aware of, he still wants to go after them. He learns where they are and poses as a wealthy Texan looking to buy a house. So he hires a real estate agent, Leslie Rogers to show him around. He is actually trying to find out where they're holed up. And when he finds it, he sets out on his plan to get them. But when they learn he is alive, ...

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Plot Keywords:

thief | real estate agent | disguise | hospital | left for dead | 

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Taglines:

To get away clean, you have to play dirty.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Certificate:

14A

Details

Official Sites:

FilmDistrict [United States] Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 January 2013 (Canada)

Also Known As:

Parkeris

Filming Locations:

Ohio State Fairgrounds, Columbus, Ohio, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$7,008,222 (USA) (25 January 2013)

Gross:

$17,609,982 (USA) (29 March 2013)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Incentive Filmed Entertainment, Sierra / Affinity, Alexander/ Mitchell Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Parker calls his girlfriend and her phone displays a caller ID of [phone], which, when Googled, is the phone number of a Louisiana film crew person with the last name of Parker (who doesn't appear to have worked on this movie).

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Goofs

When Parker slides under the garage door as it is closing (twice) at Melander's house, he would have broken the infra red safety beam, so the door should have stopped and re-opened, alerting Mr. Rodrigo and his gang.

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Quotes

Jake Fernandez: [after Leslie buys a large cup of coffee] Hey, you have a cupholder in your car, or you just keep that between your legs?
Leslie Rodgers: Well, it's large and black, Jake. Where do you think I like it?

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Connections

Features The Young and the Restless (1973)

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Soundtracks

My Heart Awakes Screaming
Written by Dax Riggs
Performed by Dax Riggs

User Reviews

Good Action Thriller

Parker (Jason Statham) is a thief with codes to live by. He is left for dead by his cohorts in crime when he refuses to join them for another heist. He vows to go after them and get what is his.

Seems that some big stars want to hitch their wagon to a profitable venture such as any Jason Statham movie. Here we have Jennifer Lopez doing that and when I first saw her name associated with this I knew 2-things: She would get a lot of screen time and many, many lines too. Okay, 3-three things: this won't be as good as other Jason Statham movies. I was in cringeville. And, then I watched the movie and was wrong, wrong, wrong. She did good. Who knew?

However, there was a difference with this movie. Most of the time Mr Statham's character goes about his business cutting down the bad guys without any real complication, but in here he meets his match with some bad guys who kind of beat the hell out of him. He still wins, but it's not easy. Some of the fight scenes were too real for me and I had to check myself into the local ER to make sure all was okay. I am fine. Thanks for asking.

Add to the beatings, we have Leslie (Jennifer Lopez) getting in the way of Parker's plan to take out the bad guys. Okay, we knew something like this would happen and we cringed for a bit, but we were pleasantly surprised that she did good. Who knew?

All in all a good action thriller as we would expect from any Jason Statham movie even with a star who hitched her wagon to a profitable venture…..but did good. Who knew? Nick Nolte and Michael Chiklis also star.

Will we see other big stars hitch their wagon to other successful ventures: Matt Damon, Bruce Willis, Arnold (hey, is he back?), Sylvester? Time will tell. We can only hope the scripts will be as good as this one was. Kudos. (7/10)

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: Yes, briefly, 2-times.. Language: Yes, not much.