“Parker” is meant to be an action film. However, there is nowhere near enough action, it’s way too long and the filmmakers completely mess up the pace of the film. It stars Jason Statham (“The Transporter”, “Crank”), who maybe this generation’s closest thing to a real action hero.

In this film, a group of armed robbers successfully complete their job but one of them, named Parker (Statham), isn’t too keen on the next job. He is therefore betrayed by his associates and left for dead. Now he’s out to get revenge but the movie dances around and doesn’t have him do all that much.

Statham is good here. Well, as good as the film lets him be. This time, he delivers a few decent one-liners, which haven’t been his strong suit. The film’s real problem is a real-estate agent, named Leslie Rodgers (Jennifer Lopez “Gigli”, “Anaconda”), who doesn’t really serve any purpose whatsoever and is completely useless but somehow manages to get an awful lot of screen-time. Lopez isn’t even that bad but the role is worthless. Many of her scenes don’t even have anything to do with the rest of the film and thus merely provide the film with an unnecessary runtime. The villains are pretty unmemorable, which isn’t unusual for an action film but certainly isn’t beneficial.

“Parker” works in so many places and then it just stops for a ridiculous length of time. I don’t mind having a female character in this movie but she contributes nothing except for getting in the way both of our hero and in the way of us, the audience. I don’t hate “Parker” and if you’re a fan of Statham then it’s worth checking out. However, unlike the “Transporter” movies and some of his other work, “Parker” just doesn’t work as well as it should. Here’s hoping Statham’s next film gets its priorities right.