A Working Man (2025) MGM/Action-Thriller RT: 116 minutes Rated R (strong violence, language throughout, and drug content) Director: David Ayer Screenplay: Sylvester Stallone and David Ayer Music: Jared Michael Fry Cinematography: Shawn White Release date: March 28, 2025 (US) Cast: Jason Statham, David Harbour, Michael Pena, Jason Flemyng, Arianna Rivas, Noemi Gonzalez, Emmett J. Scanlan, Eve Mauro, Maximillian Osinski, Ricky Champ, Max Croes, Kristina Poli, Andrej Kaminsky, Isla Gie, Alana Boden, Greg Kolpakchi, Piotr Witkowski, Richard Heap, Kenneth Collard, Chidi Ajufo, Cokey Falkow, Joanna DeLane, David Witts.
Rating: ***
Jason Statham is a true action star. He always puts on a good show. He’s to this generation what Schwarzenegger, Stallone and Norris were to the 80s or what Seagal and JCVD were to the 90s. We don’t get too many of his breed anymore. Nowadays it’s all about superheroes or big Hollywood stars aided by CGI. Statham is a two-fisted, true blue tough guy who acts as a one man army in his quest for justice. The only real difference between him and the bad asses that came before him is the British accent. That and he can actually act. He growls rather than grunts his dialogue.
Statham’s latest outing A Working Man isn’t all that different from his other films. He plays a seemingly regular guy with a special set of skills. When provoked, he’s extremely dangerous; a lesson learned the hard way by those dumb enough to piss him off. This time, his character’s name is Levon Cade, a construction worker and former soldier who’s trying to put his violent past behind him. A widower, all he wants from life to gain custody of his young daughter Merry (Gie) from his mean father-in-law (Heap) who blames him for his daughter’s suicide.
It’s this personal struggle that makes Levon the ideal candidate for the off-hours job offered to him by his boss Joe Garcia (Pena, Ant-Man). Joe’s attractive college-age daughter Jenny (Rivas, Prom Dates) has gone missing after a night out with friends. She was kidnapped by a couple of creeps, Viper (Scanlan, Kin) and Artemis (Mauro, Cypher), for a sex trafficking ring run by another creep named Dimi (Osinski, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.). Dimi is the brother of Wolo (Flemyng, Transporter 2), a high-ranking boss in the Russian mob. Wolo is one of the bodies Levon drops in his search for the missing girl. Naturally, the Russians want him dead because of it. They have no idea who they’re f***ing with.
A Working Man is directed by David Ayer, the same fellow who directed Statham in last year’s The Beekeeper. It’s written by Ayer and Sylvester Stallone who might have starred in it once upon a time. Originally written as a TV series, it’s an adaptation of the Chuck Dixon (a Philly area native, btw) novel Levon’s Trade. It’s the first of 13 books featuring Levon Cade meaning we’re likely to see a sequel if this one does well. Ayer certainly leaves it wide open for a follow-up. I wouldn’t mind. Levon, although a blue collar version of John Wick, is a cool character. He’s equal parts bad ass and loving dad. He’s equally adept at taking down an army of thugs as he is picking up his daughter from school. He never seems to lose a fight either. I’ll take him over Jack Reacher (the Tom Cruise one) any day.
I’m an action junkie in case you couldn’t tell. [Insert chorus of “NOOOOO!” here] I love a good violent action flick. The bigger the body count, the bloodier the kills, the better. I thoroughly enjoyed The Beekeeper last year. I enjoyed A Working Man too. It doesn’t ask too much from the viewer, no more than any other dopey actioner does. It just asks you suspend disbelief for a couple of hours and watch Statham do what Statham does best, kick ass and not bother with names. The bad guys are despicable and deserve to die painful deaths. The star sees to that. The plot is silly and veers off track on more than one occasion. There’s one extended bit where Levon poses as a drug dealer looking to buy product from a business associate of Dimi. I don’t mind that A Working Man gets sidetracked because it always leads back to Statham doling out justice and swift retribution. I’m good with that.
Ayer keeps things moving swiftly even if not smoothly. The acting is about you’d expect. David Harbour (Violent Night) lends a helping hand as Levon’s blind friend whose life he saved in the service. This dude has quite an arsenal in his tool shed. There’s nothing in the way of character development. A movie like A Working Man doesn’t need it. It needs to do only one, delivers lots of action in two hours. It does that and nothing more. It’s a good and effective action movie. Statham’s fans will be pleased. What more can you ask?
