“A Working Man” was co-written, produced & directed by David Ayers and is based on the 2014 novel, “Levon’s Trade” by Chuck Dixon. The other co-writer on this film is Sylvester Stallone, who also serves as producer. The film stars Jason Statham, Michael Pena & David Harbour. Stallone’s original idea for this film was initially pitched as Amazon Prime series under his own production company, “Balboa Productions” but was later changed to a film with Statham to star & Ayers to direct.
A family run construction company is running smoothly over their sites. Led by Joe Garcia (Pena) and his wife and daughter, the company chose Levon Cade (Statham) as site supervisor. One night, Joe’s daughter, Jenny is out on the town with her friends to celebrate her graduation from high school. That night, she is kidnapped by a group of Russian traffickers. After a few days go by, Joe asks Levon for his help. Levon, who has a decade of experience as a former Royal Marine Commando, vows to find her. With help from his contact with local police & his former army comrade, Gunny (Harbour), Levon uncovers a massive traffic & drug syndicate network under the Russian mob from all over the world. He’ll stop at nothing to find the girl, no matter the cost.
Jason Statham has made a career as the normal man with a badass background. Last year, “The Beekeeper”, 2002 saw “The Transporter”, 2011 he was “The Mechanic” & in the 2012 film, he plays a glorified bodyguard with a background as a cop & cage fighter. This guy has put together a pretty impressive resume despite most of the films not being that great. “A Working Man” is actually quite entertaining in the 90’s action film way. It has a “Taken” vibe without the great lines. Statham proves he is the jack of all trades as the movie progresses, but it does have all the typical cliches much like the rest his films. Michael Pena & David Harbour are also great in the film despite having very little screen time. The film has some great action sequences with some brutal death scenes but also has some very noticeable CGI moments throughout.
Overall, this was not a terrible film but a lot better than some of his other films in the same subgenre. It has a solid premise with a solid lead action star. We’ve seen movies like this before but done better & done worse. Liam Nesson in “Taken” was great but overstayed his welcome with the other 2 sequels, as did Denzel Washington in “The Equalizer”. Statham as the “Working Man” works because of his skill set & the settings around his character. It’s not drawn out for sequels or left for interpretation. A well-rounded character with a cliche storyline makes for an entertaining movie, much better than the previous one as well. “A Working Man” hit theaters on March 28th, 2025.