Parker, And/Or: The Statham Problem
This is not exactly a review of Parker, per se, because what would be the point? There’s very little to say about a movie this determinedly mediocre.
On the subject of what is the deal with Jason Statham, I have slightly more to say…
In brief, Parker is an adaptation of Flashfire, book number nineteen in the Parker series of crime novels written by Richard Stark (a.k.a. Donald Westlake.) Statham plays the titular character, a ruthless thief. In the aftermath of a successful state fair robbery (you know the type), Parker is betrayed and left for dead by his partners. (I’ve read a few of the books. This actually happens to him a lot.) Anyway, blah blah blah, he swears revenge, blah blah blah jewelry heist in Florida, blah blah blah Jennifer Lopez as a desperate real estate agent…
The thing unfolds exactly how you’d expect it to, and doesn’t offer any incidental pleasures such as particularly clever heists, inventive action sequences, or hissable villains. It gathers a pretty great team of bad guys, (Michael Chiklis, Wendell Pierce, Clifton Collins Jr., and some douchey guy) then doesn’t give them anything cool to do. Oddly enough, it’s Jennifer Lopez who is the best part of the movie. I’ve never had the dislike for her that some others seem to, but then again I’ve never really thought of her much at all. But she’s really good as a financially struggling realtor that gets wrapped up in Parker’s revenge plot. She projects vulnerability and playfulness in equal measures, and adds an actual pulse to all of her scenes. I’d say it’s the best thing she’s done since Out Of Sight, but I literally haven’t watched a single movie she’s been in since then, so my frame of reference is somewhat skewed.
That’s all the words that need to be spent on the film itself… but this film’s sheer typical-ness poses an interesting question to me:
What are we going to do about Jason Statham, you guys?
Statham more or less made his debut in the dark ages of action cinema, where most of our former stars were being herded into the Direct-To-Video market, or replaced by slumming dramatic actors. But here was the real deal. He had muscles, and actual martial arts training, and one of those British accents… you know, not the classy sort, but the kind from the bad part of town. People were even talking about him becoming the new James Bond, which just goes to show you how sick we had gotten of poor Pierce Brosnan. He was fresh and exciting, and along with Vin Diesel and The Rock, looked like the herald of a new action era.
We all know how that turned out…
The Rock never became the A-List star he should have (and I will never understand this.) Vin Diesel shot himself in the foot by immediately trying to mythologize himself. And Statham? Statham went and turned himself into a factory.
Here’s the thing about Jason Statham: he is very much an action hero in the way Charles Bronson was an action hero (and this has always been his intent; he’s said as much in interviews). It didn’t matter that Bronson’s range was limited (as is Statham’s, as is anyone worthy of being called a true action hero), the plots didn’t matter… all that mattered was finding an excuse to wind Bronson up and let him go.
As a man who loves Bronson unabashedly and unconditionally (the only way you can love him, given his output), my natural inclination is to respect Statham’s ambitions.
But as a viewer, I find myself getting bored.
Looking at Statham’s lead work over the past few years, there tends to be a sameness to his performances, a formula to his plots, and even a trademark aesthetic that plagues his work, leading to diminishing returns creatively, if not always financially. Now, when one looks at the career of Charles Bronson, it could be said that he was always playing Paul Kersey, the protagonist of the immortal Death Wish quintilogy. But he was working with directors such as Michael Winner and J. Lee Thompson, who were able to raise incompetence to an art form. That is to say, Bronson was a journeyman who attached himself to filmmakers who, through either ineptitude or indifference, managed to produce highly idiosyncratic and entertaining works.
Statham sticks to a similar work ethic, but Hollywood doesn’t produce those kinds of filmmakers anymore. The modern breed all have a certain slickness to them, an unblemished professionalism. This results in something more polished, and infinitely less interesting. And Statham responds in kind, churning out factory-assembled performances off the conveyer belt of his own talent, if you’re into that sort of metaphor.
Certainly, every once in a while Statham will try something different. His work in Guy Ritchie’s Revolver may not be on anyone’s list of the greatest films ever, but it’s an interesting departure for both of them, and a cult movie waiting to happen. And then there’s the Crank series, which are… an acquired taste. (Neveldine/Taylor are basically Michael Winner if somebody split him into two dudes and gave them both a pixie stick enema.) But for the most part, we’re looking at a series of variations on his most popular work, The Transporter. Even his best movie, Safe, is essentially The Transporter, but done by a more talented (read: slumming) writer/director than usual.
Whatever charisma Jason Statham had as a lead action hero has been pretty well used up at this point. The excitement I used to feel when I’d see trailers for his work has been replaced by a sense of deja vu. To get me excited again, it would take a commitment from Statham to find stronger, stranger material for himself and who knows if he’d even consider it worth the effort?
But even if his best leading days are behind him, I take some comfort in the fact that, unlike his progenitors, he is more than comfortable taking a backseat to an ensemble. His work in movies like The Killer Elite, The Italian Job, and of course The Expendables franchise indicate that he doesn’t have an ego about not being the top name on the call sheet. And there’s his bad guy role in the next Fast and Furious installment. Fast and the Furious has a habit of getting great action movie performances out of its actors, so here’s hoping Statham gets the chance to reclaim some of his old fire…
But if that doesn’t work out, I might have an idea for him: Since he’s such a fan of Charles Bronson, perhaps he should consider co-starring with Beat Takeshi in a remake of Red Sun.
And now that I’ve put it out there, the fact that it’s probably never going to happen makes me unbearably sad…
