Parker

A lesser Statham overall, but only because it has trouble deciding what it wants to be – Hackford’s stylish eyes behind the camera clash uneasily with a screenplay (and overall plotting arc) which becomes gruesomely unpleasant at times, especially when Lopez’s rom-com styled lead is unexpectedly brutalised and victimised in ways that are a little too vivid and real. Because Hackford takes this material seriously rather than treating it as a Chuck Norris style piece of absurdity, he inadvertently undermines the effect of the entire movie, focusing with an unseemly eye on the brutality of the violence rather than letting Statham pop off a quip before moving on. Despite this, the performers all acquit themselves nicely (especially Lopez), though Nolte looks distractingly (and worryingly) weather beaten here.