It feels like Jason Statham is one of our only true modern A-list action stars who is not burdened by holding that title. Statham seems content with staying in a lane that suits him, not concerning himself with sequels that have to up the ante on previous entries, or letting age get to him (as long as he comes out with barely a scratch on him). It also feels like he must have been thrilled to bring together his friends Sylvester Stallone and David Ayer for A Working Man. Having just worked with Ayer on the fun exercise in increasing amounts of ridiculous that was The Beekeeper and putting in plenty of duty as an Expendable with Stallone, holding aside whatever wobbly point of view on American politics all three may have, they’ve come together to tackle a human trafficking story in ways only befitting of an action film. Whether or not it delivers depends on how much work you enjoy seeing Statham do.
Adapted by Stallone from a Chuck Dixon novel (the first of a series), Statham stars as Levon Cade, an ex-Royal Marines commando now working a less intensive construction job life in Chicago, although he’s both barely getting by yet drives a very nice truck. Levon has a daughter he barely gets to see and a boss (Michael Peña, once again doing a lot with a little) who has basically accepted him as part of the family. When the boss’ daughter Jenny (Arianna Rivas) is kidnapped, it becomes Levon’s duty to figure out who is behind it all and how much damage he will have to deliver.
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This isn’t the first time Statham starred in a film with a Stallone-penned screenplay. Over a decade ago, one of my favorite Statham films, Homefront, positioned the star as a reluctant ex-DEA agent forced to take on a biker gang involved with drugs. What set the film apart was a strong script that leaned into the characterization of all parties involved and escalated the tension based on circumstances growing out of hand. By comparison, A Working Man is far more down the middle for what it offers as an action movie. Yes, there are enough supporting characters to build out a world featuring some quirky characters (David Harbour co-stars as Levon’s blind tactical ally) and a dark underworld, but nothing all that nuanced.
Even the means to establish Levon’s capabilities is rooted in distilled, over-the-top theatrics. Early in the film, a group of bad guys bring trouble to the construction yard, only for Statham to beat them all up. In any other movie, I would have figured this set of villains to be the constant tormentors for the rest of the film. Yet, this was somehow an entirely different set of enemies with nothing to do with the film’s actual perpetrators. Honestly, A Working Man works exceptionally hard to throw a lot of red herrings at the audience as far as who’s responsible for abducting Jenny, as if we needed both a mystery element as well as a tour through the different levels of corruption in Chicago and its swampy(?) surrounding locations.
A deeper film would perhaps be using the variety of enemies in the mix (including hints at a secret society of Russian/eastern European elites) to dive into any sort of combination regarding the toll human trafficking takes on society. Now, this is a Statham action movie, I wasn’t expecting much, but given the level of emotional pull Ayer seems to be aiming for with the continued reminder of the Latino family Levon is fighting for (further muddying who certain audiences scapegoat when it comes to these sorts of crimes), a near-two-hour movie could have had more meat on the bone to go with all the bone breaks.
Of course, it is the thrilling action people want to see, and A Working Man mostly delivers. Given that it’s a longer feature than many Statham headliners, there’s a bit more space between action scenes, and the fights aren’t quite as stylistic or technically satisfying as the colorfully absurd setpieces in The Beekeeper. However, between the general swagger our hero has, and how he knows how to deal damage, one cannot help but see the crowd-pleasing side of this story in a manner that basically has me looking at this film as Statham’s Commando. I was even thrilled to see Statham back to beating up on his former Guy Ritchie movie co-star and punching bag from previous films, Jason Flemyng, show up for a minor role.
Looking closer at the action, Ayer has a good enough command of these scenes. Despite my misgivings about many of his features, he knows how to put together intense action sequences when the time calls for it. While not at the Paul Greengrass/Bourne level of making the frantic editing style work in a film’s favor, Ayer is among those who are better at capturing a chaotic atmosphere in modern studio action films. With that in mind, Statham’s tools are a mix of rifles, pistols, and random objects he finds lying around (though not nearly enough construction equipment). There’s not a key villain we can’t wait to see him have a one-to-one showdown with (again, The Beekeeper delivered on that in spades). Still, he gets plenty of tough guys to take on the further the film carries forward.
While I suppose being a character from a novel series means there are further cinematic roads we could see Levon Cade travel down, A Working Man does entirely rely on an audience wanting to see Statham deliver the goods in a film that’s not in the same league as previous films involving him and Ayer or Stallone. That said, this is far from a hard watch. There’s an inherent level of silliness that comes with this sort of territory, even considering the dark subject matter at the core of this story. But the idea with any film featuring this guy is to have fun, right? Statham has worked hard for his fans to enjoy this one, even if A Working Man doesn’t quite hit the nail on the head with full force.
A Working Man opens in theaters on March 28, 2025.
