Even though this is the first film to share the name of Donald E. Westlake’s most famous creation it isn’t the character’s first cinematic outing having already been played by the likes of Lee Marvin (Point Blank) and Robert Duvall (The Outfit). Parker is a perfect character for cinema - a professional criminal and thief with a code of honour that makes him an anti-hero in a world of hard-boiled crooks.

Sadly, Parker, lacks the personality that has made the character such an enduring figure in film. Instead it is just another Jason Statham action vehicle as the gravelly Brit punches his way through Palm Beach. The plot, as is always the way with a Stath film, is pretty forgettable…

Jason Statham for the last few years has been pigeon-holed as an all-action hardman. Unfortunately for him the only real difference in his output seems to be the film names. They all seem to have the same premise. Professional thief, troubled ex-special forces, wronged family man, take your pick they all result in the same kind of film with revenge and retribution from the high-kicking Derbyshire born baldy.
The character portrayed by our Jas in this run of the mill crime thriller isn't new. Both demi-god Lee Marvin and Mel "don't fuck with me" Gibson have done a more convincing job, with Marvin's portrayal especially, a landmark one. When Statham's thief is double-crossed and left for dead, you guessed it,…

First of all, if you’re a fan of the character Parker as popularized by Darwyn Cooke, run away as fast as you can, for you’ll be sorely disappointed. A movie based on the Parker of The Hunter or The Outfit, with a visual style influenced by Cooke, would have been an amazing movie indeed.

What we get, instead, is an action/heist-ish movie that’s all process and almost no payoff, based on one of the later Parker stories. If the film is faithful to the book (Flashfire), it makes me think that perhaps Donald Westlake was getting soft in his golden years. Gone is the cold cruelty of Parker, an uncaring, ruthless force. In his place is a truffle of a…

as i tear through the late parker novels - which are great btw - i can only think about the commercial cinema's ability to lay waste to everything it touches, here (once again) devouring westlake/stark's ruthless prose and process-oriented criminality into, well, a fucking hollywood film, saddled with flashbacks, EMOTIONS (???) and pandering morality, a genuine misunderstanding of the blank canvass sociopath heister known as Parker. donald westlake, as richard stark, wrote for fun and profit, it's not like his books aren't, you know, extremely commercial and fun AND good already, unlike this piece of shit, which drains the source material and spits it back out tailored to the stardom of statham and the mores of a creatively bankrupt screenwriting…

Normally a Jason Statham joint is a fairly reliable good time. Occasionally we get a bona fide classic, rarely do we get something unwatchable (Never work with Olivier Megaton again Statham!), but he's out there pumping out a consistent stream of 3 star punch em ups and you know you're in for a good night.

Every once in a while some recipe of this formula doesn't come quite right and it throws the whole thing out of whack, and unfortunately as much as I love the man, it's Statham himself that doesn't quite work. He's either miscast, or misdirected as the titular thief. We're introduced to the character, finally allowed to have his book name, who should be a land…

Parker grabs his violent vengeance by teasing an unsympathetic estate agent. Palm Beach, Florida. A secluded island lavished with intimidating properties and aromatised in money. Where freshly cemented streets are illuminated by golden lights. Island access only possible via a drawbridge, enhancing the security of its inhabitant. The perfect yet improbable location to steal a myriad of jewellery worth millions of dollars. Well, not for Parker. A meticulous criminal who constructs elaborate plans to steal cash, often wearing questionable disguises. But before Palm Beach, there was the Ohio State fair. His recruited greedy peers left Parker for dead, and now he wants revenge. Who’s the man for the task? Jason God damn Statham. That’s who! The only actor who churns…

It's really good that Taylor Hackford gives us all a good indication of his directing style right there within his name: Hack. I like that, it saves time. Unfortunately, I ignored the indication and didn't save time any time when I decided to endure all two hours (unnecessarily long) of this anemic adaptation of a 2000 Donald E Westlake/Richard Stark novel entitled Flashfire. This film is actually the first adaptation to use his antihero's name, Parker*. But believe me, this is less Point Blank and more Point Wank.

With production levels and visuals around the same standard as a '90s US TV movie this has to be the cheapest looking adaptation so far. The first forty minutes or so is…

"I don't steal from anyone who can't afford it, and I don't hurt anyone who doesn't deserve it."

The title of the film is based on the main character who is a thief with a set of moral codes which he never breaks. Oddly enough, Parker resembles every other Jason Statham character played on film, more than the character he was based on in Donald E. Westlake's novel "Flashfire." If you aren't familiar with the novel, you might be familiar with the 1999 revenge film, Payback, starring Mel Gibson. Despite not being called Parker in that film, Mel's character is supposed to be the same one played here by Statham. If you've seen both movies you will discover that they…