‘A Working Man’ – Review

Jason Statham and David Ayer are back after their high-flying action cinema tornado, The Beekeeper, with A Working Man, and this action flick is about as subtle as a train crash, and delivers all on its junky action spectacle.

Levon Cade (Jason Statam) left behind a decorated military career in the black ops to live a simple life of working construction. However, when human traffickers kidnap his boss’s daughter, his search to bring her home uncovers a world of corruption far greater than he ever could have imagined.

When it comes to action cinema, Jason Statham is THE MAN and has set the standard for explosive action set pieces that throw him into harms way with no thought given. He’s a performer who has delivered us some of the best action pictures in the last two decades with the likes of The Expendables, The Transporter, Death Race, The Mechanic and recently Hobbs & Shaw. But he’s aslo taken on some absolute clunkers as well, WAR anyone? Now he re-teams with David Ayer for A Working Man, and this is a junky action fest taken to a new extreme. Working with celebrated Hollywood legend Sylvester Stallone could have left us with something interesting, like the excellent Homefront, but instead we’ve been left with A Working Man, and this picture is just so over-the-top that it still manages to be fun.

While I think the experience of making Suicide Squad has deeply traumatised David Ayer and his ability as a director, and it’s been apparent in both he Beekeeper and A Working Man, it’s almost like he and Stallone watched John Wick, went to Chat GPT and typed in ‘make John Wick with Jason Statham’. The result is A Working Man. With underground biker bars and Russian mafia owned clubs bathed in neon lights, gangsters with sparkly suits, moustache twirling, cape wearing villains and just general WTF narrative points, A Working Man is all over the show with its full on cliche-enducing action! It’s just so damn kitchy and dumb, that you can’t help but be left in hysterics, and you wonder whether Ayer, the director of the Fury and Harsh Times, and writer of the acclaimed Training Day, has had his talented sapped from him after the Suicide Squad ordeal, and he’s now just letting AI do all the work.

But IF YOU FORGET about any type of narrative experience, A Working Man does deliver on its action set pieces and when Ayer finally does allow Statham’s ex Special Forces, Royal Marines Commando Levon Cade the ability to go for it, he kills everything in sight and it’s fucking AWESOME to watch! Arming himself with an arsenal of big guns, the film’s final third act is a blood bath of epic proportions as he goes to town with an M14 Rifle, and lays down a host of bad guys with this nail driver of a gun, before slicing up the remaining bad guys with a KA-BAR, and it’s bloody brutal! He’s got a no-holds barred drive to save Jenny (Arianna Rivas), the daughter of his employers, and it’s satisfying to watch him punish her kidnappers and tormenters in the most ruthless way possible! David Harbour also makes a cool appearance as his friend and comrade Gunny Lefferty, and is a solid addition to the film.

A Working Man is the type of junky action film that speaks to your inner thirteen year old, with all kinds of big guns, bigger knives and buckets of blood and gore thrown in for good measure. Just forget the narrative and focus in on Statham killing everything in sight and your bound to have a fun time with this flick that speaks directly to your Limibic system.

Image: Warner Brothers Pictures