Parker

Jason Statham being Jason Statham. He is a crook working with a new crew on the recommendation of his mentor. The new crew screws up, people get hurt, and that is not how Parker rolls. Oh, and the new crew ripped him off, shot him and left him for dead too. Must be time for some revenge. Parker finds where the next job is, infiltrates, causes havoc, gets revenge. It is funny how you can pass off a character as a thief with morals. Don't hurt innocents? Ok to brutally torture and kill bad guys? This is war mentality. Different morals for different folks, but eventually the lines blur. Does a Parker character's lines of morality make sense if he holds to them?
3 stars (out of 5)

World War Z

It wasn't like the book. Now we have that out of the way, this is a pretty good film. Using the premise of a highly contagious, very short gestation period, viral outbreak that manifests by victims exhibiting zombie characteristics, we are treated to a pretty standard detective thriller. Brad Pitt is Gerry Lang, UN detective extraordinaire who is able to uncover anything hidden by any warlord, weapons dealer or genocide perpetrator. Now he is let loose on nature. Finding the virus cause and potential weapons to use against it requires him to look for subtle clues in an environment that is anything but subtle. This is really not World War Z, but the lead up to the war. This is the shot fired across the bow, as both sides (humans and zombies) figure out who and what they are up against. The real war is just beginning as the final credits role. I appreciate that the filmmakers did not try to throw everything that was possible into the film, did not try to replicate the entire book. As it was, it was enough. Well played.
3 stars (out of 5)