A Working Man
Official Australian release date: 27/3/25. Viewed: 31/3/25.
Director: David Ayer
Actors: Jason Statham, Jason Flemyng, Maximilian Osinski, Arianna Rivas
Genre: Action
Rating: MA
‘A Working Man’ is the second Statham-Ayer collaboration after last year’s ‘The Beekeeper’ and doesn’t adjust the formula too much – Levon Cade (Statham) is a former paratrooper and is now retired, working construction in Chicago this time, when the daughter of his boss, Jenny (Rivas) gets kidnapped. Even though he doesn’t want to get involved, he obviously does and thus begins his one-man-war against what turns out to be Russians.
Even though it’s all about Statham beating up bad guys,
there’s a solid support cast – Joe (Pena) his boss, Gunny (Harbour) as his
former army pal, Merry (Gie) as his daughter, Dutch (Ajufo) as the maybe-OK drug
dealer, and the Russians – Dimi (Osinski), Yuri (Ninidze) and Wolo (Flemyng).
All add enough to make this not one-dimensional. There’s a few breathers, but
otherwise it’s Cade making his way through the ranks to find Jenny.
It feels quite quick, at just under 2 hours, and has plenty
of good hand-to-hand fight scenes and the obligatory big shootout finale. It’s
no ‘John Wick’, but Statham has his own style and charm, and Jenny helps by not
being just a victim. Since it’s based on a series of books, not all the bad
guys are killed, so I’m expecting sequels – which I’ll probably watch.
Overall: A good Statham-by-numbers
Gav's Rating: 3 stars