Parker - 2 1/2 smiles

Jason Statham is good as the coldly no-nonsense thief who has his own set of ethics. The main problem with “Parker,” directed by Taylor Hackford, is Jennifer Lopez’s struggling real estate agent. There’s no reason for her to be in the story so she becomes a distraction, both to Parker and to us. But she ends up being in over half of the movie. Based on a character created by Donald E. Westlake, Parker is a professional thief with four new partners on a heist of the Ohio State fair. All goes mostly according to plan until it comes to splitting the take, when the other crooks decide it’s easier to shoot Parker than pay him. Their big mistake is not making sure he’s dead. Because now Parker has four targets and he is not going to stop until he has gotten every one of them.

Statham makes a believable lethal killing machine, which accurately describes Parker. And Hackford gives him some quality actors to play off, including Nick Nolte as Parker’s mentor who points him to the first score and Michael Chiklis and Clifton Collins Jr. as two of the low-lifes he eventually chases to Palm Beach. And Hackford keeps things moving quickly enough that you don’t worry about some of the plot holes although by movie’s end Parker is so beaten up you wonder how he’s going to get the bad guys. Not to worry. Statham is one of the few believable action stars that you know he’ll get the job done. 1/25/13