After the success of their collaboration of The Beekeeper (2024), it isn’t much of a surprise to see Jason Statham and David Ayer team up again. Their latest A Working Man ups the action pedigree even further, with the inclusion of action legend Sylvester Stallone as writer/producer. You can easily see Stallone’s stamp on A Working Man, with it being very much in line with the actioners he was churning out in the 80’s and 90’s.
It’s great to see that Stallone is still making a mark on the action genre, and although A Working Man doesn’t reach the heights of Statham’s best work, or even The Beekeeper for that matter, there’s still more than enough good stuff here to keep action fans happy.
Based on the Chuck Dixon novel Levon’s Trade (a much better title), A Working Man finds Statham as Levon Cade, an ex Royal Marine Commando who is now working Stateside as the leader of a construction team. Early in the film we see that Levon has grown close to his manager Joe (Michael Pena) and his family, especially Joe’s daughter Jenny (Arianna Rivas).
When Jenny ends up kidnapped, Joe and his wife Carla (Noemi Gonzalez) look to Levon rather than the police to get her back. At first reluctant to help, Levon’s conscience gets the better of him and it’s not too long before he’s on the trail of the kidnappers. Very quickly he finds himself facing off against the Bratva i.e. the Russian Mob, who underestimate how far Levon is willing to go to get Jenny back.
Working his way through the ranks without hesitation, things take an even more personal turn when the Bratva uncover Levon’s identity and come after his daughter. This only enrages him further, with him turning to old army buddy Gunney (David Harbour) for help as Levon decides to go all in and take down Jenny’s kidnappers for good.
Whilst David Ayer more than dipped his toe into the blockbuster arena with such films as Suicide Squad (2016) and Bright (2017), I feel his talents lie more with the mid budget action thrillers that he built his name on. I would certainly rather watch his Street Kings (2008), End of Watch (2012) or Sabotage (2014) than his more generic big budget offerings. It seemed the higher the resources the less personality Ayer’s films had.
A Working Man may not be on par with the likes of those mentioned, but Ayer still manages to infuse it with enough of his own voice to make it standout. It doesn’t hurt that he also has Stallone on hand, who he co-wrote the screenplay with. The two of them combined add just the right amount of eccentric characters and quirky touches to raise A Working Man above being another forgettable actioner.
The script is very much in the same vein as those 80’s actioners that Stallone made his name on, and ones Ayer probably grew up watching. Like those, they make the lead character almost unstoppable in his pursuit of justice. Like Stallone’s John Rambo or Marion Cobretti, Statham’s Levon is a one man army that by the end of the film has racked up a body count in the double figures. There are attempts to humanize Levon by making him a widower struggling to gain access to his daughter who is currently living with her bitter grandfather. This does help make Levon at least some way relatable, that is until the film needs him to revert back to an unstoppable killing machine.
Levon is a typical Statham character. Other than having a daughter, there is very little here to differentiate him from the character he played in last year’s The Beekeeper. That doesn’t mean that Statham doesn’t fully commit. Typically for the now veteran action star, Statham gives the role his all, with Levon being a likeable hero that will go to extreme lengths to do what’s right. As expected, Statham gets involved in several well staged action scenes, ranging from the expected martial arts beat downs to shootouts and even a mid-movie motorbike chase to shake things up.
What did surprise me during the action was Ayer’s predilection towards the use of unnecessary shaky cam. It isn’t in every action scene, but it used enough to become noticeable. This isn’t something I have picked up on previously with Ayer, so its inclusion here seemed strange. If the film starred the likes of Liam Neeson I could understand its use, but when you have Statham in the lead, its use just comes across as obtrusive. Perhaps some of it could be budget related, with the frenetic camera work helping to cover up the limited locations or sets, but this is just supposition on my part.
I don’t mean to imply that A Working Man looks cheap, as it doesn’t. However, it isn’t as visually impressive as many of Ayer’s other films. Shawn White does a decent job as director of photography, with this seemingly being his first time in that role, but the film does on occasion have that overly digital sheen. I suppose that can’t be avoided these days, but it does knock A Working Man down a few notches with the visuals not coming close to Gabriel Beristain’s work on The Beekeeper.
Although Beristain didn’t return from The Beekeeper, Ayer still managed to retain the same composer. Jared Michael Fry’s score gives off a nostalgic 80’s vibe and matches the on screen action well. The opening is especially memorable where the films main themes are matched by a James Bond style credits sequence which gets things off to a great start, setting the tone for what’s to come.
At least the action is suitably R rated, with Statham’s Levon not leaving anyone alive in his search for Jenny. Multiple stabbings, gougings and countless bullet wounds are just some of the punishments that Levon dishes out. Ayer and Statham fairly ratchet up the excitement as Levon works his way through the assortment of criminals in his path. The only real problem is that there isn’t really anyone that poses a physical threat to him. Other than the 6’6″ Chidi Ajufo as biker leader Dutch, he takes down his opponents with ease.
Although we get to know Statham’s character fairly well throughout the film’s runtime, the same can’t be said for his supporting cast. David Harbour is his usual likeable self as one of Levon’s former team mates, but he only appears in a handful of scenes. The same is true of Michael Pena who appears during the film’s opening and only reappearing as the film closes. It is a role well beneath his talents and one that any competent actor could have played.
Statham’s old Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) pal Jason Flemyng shows up briefly, with him initially seeming more important to the plot than he ultimately is. Typically, a character like Flemyng would turn out to be the main villain but he is just another bad guy that Levon quickly dispatches. This isn’t even a spoiler as the trailer shows this very scene. While it’s great to see Statham and Flemyng share the screen once again, it would just have been nice if Flemyng’s role was more substantial.
Unlike The Beekeeper, A Working Man doesn’t really have a main villain. Emmet J Scanlan may play the main kidnapper but he isn’t what you’d exactly class as a notable bad guy, even if he does have considerably more screen time than anticipated. Instead of building up to a face off against a notable big bad, Levon instead works his way through a tier of villains only to find there are even worse above them. He then proceeds to work his way through this second tier to only find out there are even worse than these. In some respects, it’s almost like a video game, where Levon works his way through numerous bad guys to reach the end of level boss in order to proceed to the next level.
The almost episodic nature that the script employs wasn’t that surprising after learning that Stallone initially developed Chuck Dixon’s novel as a television series. Apparently it was changed to be a feature due to its potential to become a possible franchise, as there are several novels in the series that could be adapted for the screen. The idea of building this into a franchise is noticeable with the involvement of several side characters such as Harbour’s Gunney that would obviously be fleshed out as the series progresses.
I have noted some reviews, both online and in print giving A Working Man a hard time, with many complaining that it’s just another typical Statham film. Well, I wonder why that is? I honestly don’t understand why someone would go to see a Statham film then complain when it gives you exactly what you expect. This puts me in mind of Empire magazine back in the 90’s who seemed to have a personal bias against action films, especially those starring the likes of Jean Claude Van Damme. To this day I can’t fathom why you would get people with a clear dislike for the genre to review such films. What’s worse is the amount of quality films such reviews made people miss out on.
A Working Man won’t go down as an action classic. Both Statham and Ayer have made better films, but if you’re a fan of either director or star, or even if you’re just looking for a fun actioner, you’ll get a lot of enjoyment here. I am pleased to see it faring well at the box office, for even if it won’t turn out to be the best actioner of the year, it more than proves there is still a clear marker for R rated action movies.
Unsurprisingly, Jason Statham already has several films in the pipeline. Jean-François Richet’s Mutiny is already in the can but isn’t due until next year. He also has an untitled film currently in production that teams him up with the talented Ric Roman Waugh of Angel has Fallen (2019) and Greenland (2020) fame. Then there’s The Beekeeper sequel, which will find him working with action maestro Timo Tjahjanto.
The reason that Ayer isn’t helming The Beekeeper sequel himself is because he is busy with Heart of the Beast which reteams him with his Fury (2014) leading man Brad Pitt. If it’s as half as good as that underrated gem I’m sure Ayer is on to a winner.
Plot: 3.5/5
Acting: 3.5/5
Action: 3.5/5
Overall: 3.5/5