Levon Cade 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.
Director: David Ayer
Cast: Jason Statham, Michael Peña, David Harbour, Jason Flemyng, Arianna Rivas, Noemi Gonzalez
Release Date: March 28, 2025
Genre: Action, Thriller
Rated R for strong violence, language throughout, and drug content.
Runtime: 1h 56m
Review:
A Working Man, David Ayer's second collaboration with Jason Statham, is self-serious but entertainingly over the top at the same time which makes it feel like an old school, 80's actioneers likely due to the influence of Sylvester Stallone who co-wrote the script. Ayer brings his usual grim style to the proceedings while lifting bits and pieces from the John Wick franchise in the form of garishly, cartoonish villains that populate the vast underworld that Statham is tasked with annihilating in steady succession. The script does try to humanize Levon Cade with relationship to daughter, but it never lands the way it should since Cade is pretty much an invincible killing machine with a singular mission. Statham has made a career of playing these sorts of characters with his steely gaze even as he unleashes increasingly violent and extreme forms of violence on whoever stands in his way. Michael Peña and David Harbour have small supporting roles with each popping up sporadically throughout, but neither is given much to work with outside of the most generic characteristics. Harbour's character in particular seems to be screaming for a bit more depth which the script never offers. The villains are equally forgettable with each serving as paper thin versions of countless clichéd bad guys we've seen before. The final act starts to border on Schwarzenegger's Commando territory without the one liner as we watch Statham's Cade mows down wave after wave of bad guys. A Working Man will make people of certain age feel like they've been transported back to the 80's where action films weren't terribly concerned with logic as much as it was with kicking ass.
C+
