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  

Black Bag

Official Australian release date: 13/3/25. Viewed: 16/3/25.
Director: Steven Soderbergh  
Actors: Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, Tom Burke, Regé-Jean Page
Genre: Thriller / Drama
Rating: M

‘Black Bag’ is a tight, mostly psychological spy thriller. We have George (Fassbender) & Kathryn (Blanchett) who are married, but both work for MI6 of some British Intelligence agency. We start with a seemingly benign dinner party where we meet the other key characters and their co-workers – Freddie (Burke), James (Page), Zoe (Harris) and Clarissa (Abela). All are on the same “side”, but each have their own secrets and agendas.

Fassbender plays a similar, semi-emotionless character to ‘The Killer’ – but he doesn’t have to do any assassin work here. Overall, there’s not much action, or ‘Mission: Impossible’ style spy tropes – has more in common with ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’, as it’s all about who’s manipulating who and why. We eventually get to a potential stolen weapon, with Arthur (Brosnan) making a small appearance.

The film’s score is mostly a catchy synth number and keeps things semi-light, as the stakes seem medium, but never quite end-of-the world. Things move pretty quickly – all done in 90min – and we get to the end of a week at another dinner party, where everything is resolved. Nothing revolutionary, but engaging performances from the 6 lead actors, great London/English scenery and a little twist.

Overall: Fast, psychological spy thriller

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars  

 

Mickey 17

Official Australian release date: 6/3/25. Viewed: 12/3/25.
Director: Bong Joon-ho  
Actors: Robert Pattinson, Mark Ruffalo, Naomi Ackie, Steven Yuen,
Genre: Sci-Fi / Comedy
Rating: M

‘Mickey 17’ is a different type of interstellar sci-fi, as you’d expect from Joon-ho – we’re at some unspecified point in the future where humankind has the ability to travel to distance planets, as well as having the ability to back-up memories and 3D-print humans after the die. This is where Mickey (Pattinson) comes in, as he signs on to the colonisation attempt of the planet Niflheim as an “expendable”. The back-story in the first 30min of how he got to be on this distant planet is both funny and a little sad, but establishes Mickey (#17) as a naive but nice guy, in love with Nasha (Ackie).    

The film’s score is always slightly mournful, ensuring that we know the humour is a little dark or bleak. Especially when we see who is leading the expedition – Marshall (Ruffalo) and Ylfa (Collette), who both appear so fake, they come across exactly as delusional evangelical cultists. Ruffalo particularly relishes the role, and perhaps has some fake teeth in? Good to see him having fun. Timo (Yuen) is Mickey’s friend from earth, with a bit of a twist – but no where near as many twists as ‘Parasite’.

Whilst not overly original, the film doesn’t waste any effort in explain the unrealistic sci-fi components – it’s takes them as read, assuming we’ve seen these tropes in plenty of other films before. The inhabitants of Niflheim are an interesting flea/elephant/bison hybrid that seem semi-realistic, but would’ve been interesting to see them as animatronic puppets & not CGI. What’s most interesting is how you sometimes forget the different versions of Mickey are the same actor – credit to Pattinson. Ending is a slight letdown.

Overall: Slightly different, semi-bleak space comedy

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars