Why was Jason Statham Crime Thriller Parker a larger deal than you realized

There is a very little wonderful about Taylor Hakford 2013 represented by Jason Statham. The title of the title, like many of the heroes of the action films in front of him, which is largely defined by his huge weapon and his solid behavior and does not have a lot of bleeding or character behind it. Parker is a thief, but it is defined by an ethical blog that is not shaken and believes in adhering to good plans. It is not hots or impulsivity. In other words: it is a type of boring. It also does not help that Parker has a predictive plot that extends through a boring scenario. The film came and went without a sensation, and it is a release in January to its essence.

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Parker made $ 46.9 million at the box office with a budget of $ 35 million, a bomb on the Professor’s book in Hollywood. It has been received only by critics, and he approves 41 % on Spoiled tomatoes (Based on 105 reviews). Peter Subshenski’s review of Rogerebert.com It was cruel but accurate, on the pretext that “Parker” is “a movie that seems to be manufactured only to play in the mostly empty forces for a dark mid -winter week or two before evaporation from the market and reason.”

While there Jason Statham’s films were good In the past, Parker was not just modest; It was also a lost opportunity. The film, which you see, was based on the novel “Flashfire” for the year 2000 written by Donald Witkelik as part of a long -term Parker Books series. Parker’s first novel, “The Hunter” was published in 1962 and produced many sequences (“Flashfire” being the nineteenth book). It was previously adapted to the film “Burga Point” in 1967 (starring Lee Marvin) and then again in 1999 as “Recovery” (Mill Gibson). However, thanks to a condition of Westlake, the name Parker was changed to “Walker” in “Point Blank” and “Porter” in “Payback”.

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“Parker”, then, was the first time that Westlake’s novel was allowed to adapt using Parker’s name legally. It took 51 years to happen.

Hakford also explained to Palm Beach Daily News In 2013, Westlake did not like the idea of ​​film studio that adapts “The Hunter” unless he also agreed to adapt all other “Parker” novels. It seems that the author wanted Parker to become a star of a long -term movie, La James Bond. It will not even be after the death of Witkelik in 2008 that his widow, Abe Witkelik, will feel comfortable in a Parker’s name for a feature film or a TV series. Until then, Winstikiks made his books happily while refusing to allow film makers to keep Sarah’s main name. The torque and the light profession can remain in place, but the name was outside. Therefore, because no one wants to adhere to a full series of Parker films, all the amendments to Parker’s novels used borrowed names.

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In addition to “Point Blank” by John Burman and “Recovery” Brian Hilgland (easily the best well -known Parker films), there were many other Parker modifications that were repeated. For example, Jean -Luc Godard’s movie in 1966 “Made in Usa”, for example, was a loose adaptation to the 1965 “The Jugger” book. because Cinema from the basic school Goddard She did not get permission to adapt Westlake’s work, the author sued the project, and “Made in Usa” did not get an American distributor until the 2000s. In the same year as “Point Blank”, the French director Alain Cavalier was made by “Lypaged”, and he himself is adapted from the novel Parker “The Score” for 1963. In this movie, Michelle Konstanne played a Parker -like character called George.

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Then there was Gordon Fellang’s stealing 1968 “The Split”, which was based on the 1966 “The Seventh” and Jim Brown crossed in the role of Parker. (His name was changed to MCCLAIN.) Likewise, in 1973, director John Flynn Helmed (and Walter Hill participated in the book “The Outfit”, an air conditioning of the 1963 novel of the same name.

At the same way, director Terry Bradford adaptive Parker’s novel in 1971 “Slayground” in the 1983 movie of the same name, with the role of Peter Kuiot, the role of Parker this time (Stone is now restored). It is worth remembering that Parker’s actual character has not changed from one movie to another. It has always been blatant, implicit, and in every walk of screen; It is only the name that seems to be the barbed point. Finally, as we mentioned earlier, Gibson played “Port” in “Payback”, which is the last adjustment in Parker to be released in Wikitik’s life.

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By 2013, re -negotiation can begin at the end, and “Parker” can be used in the end. Despite the extended waiting, the result of the final film was disappointment that could be forgotten. It was not a great success enough to ensure any sequence, which means that the Parker’s wide films had never been manifested (Statham’s Parker did not become the next James Bond).

In 2022, it was announced that the writer and director Shane Black would reinstine the “The Hunter” for the third time. The movie, titled “Play Dirty”, was originally Cooperation between Black and his star “Kiss Bang Bang” Robert Downey Junior. However, the lions later had to convert the stars (most likely for the reasons for scheduling), with the replacement of Mark Wahlberg Download. “Play Dirty”, which can reach the name Parker now, is scheduled to be a stars of Lixen Stanfield, Kejan Michael Ki, Rosa Salazar, Dermot Mulrononi, and Tony Shaloub.

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Assuming that “Play Dirty” sees daylight, it will only be the second Westlake adaptation to include a character called Parker.