Jason Statham kicks ass in just about everything he chooses to star in, but Parker marked a turn for the actor as he starred as a thief with no particular fighting skills beyond scrapping and brawling. Though Statham has little in physical relation to the character of Parker as originally described by late novelist Donald E. Westlake, the action star still managed to capture the thief with rules and limits. He especially gave it his all when he allowed himself to be pounced upon rather brutally in the picture more than once. The action movie beatdown that really stands out in this picture is between Statham's Parker and an assassin who breaks into Parker's room and unleashes several shades of violence on him. After a bloody Parker thinks he's won the altercation by a hair, he's attacked yet again by the assaulter and takes a knife through the hand and ends up dangling off a balcony literally clinging to life. This action movie beatdown makes the list because of the brutal direction by Taylor Hackford and for the cleverness of having a known action star like Jason Statham barely scraping by in an attempted murder.
