Action icon Jason Statham reunites with director David Ayer for his latest ass-kicking fest, A Working Man, from Amazon MGM Studios. Ayer pens the screenplay with Sylvester Stallone, an adaptation of Chuck Dixon's book "Levon's Trade".
Statham portrays Levon Cade, a former black ops specialist who left behind a decorated military career and lives a simple life working in construction. Levon has the respect of his crew and gets along wonderfully with his bosses, Joe (Michael Peña) and Carla Garcia (Noemi Gonzalez). Their daughter Jenny (Arianna Rivas) sees him as a surrogate uncle.
Levon is working his fingers to the bone to regain custody of his daughter.
Merry (Isla Gale) from his deceased wife's father. However, when human traffickers kidnap Jenny, Joe and Carla ask Levon to awaken the beast and use his old skills to find her and bring her back. Naturally, he's up for the job, but he has some extra motivation when he uncovers a conspiracy of corruption and government agents' involvement in the whole ordeal.
Statham spent the last two years overly active, appearing in five films, three of which were the latest entries in their respective franchises but weren't well received. Fortunately, with The Beekeeper, under the skilled eye of director David Ayer, Statham got his mojo back. While I haven't read the source novel, Stallone initially planned A Working Man as a television series. I see where it could work as a series, but I'm glad they went the theater route, as it may draw comparisons to other shows.
Early in the film, Levon uses kick-ups and fisticuffs to take down some bullies harassing someone on his crew. It's the perfect build-up for when the gun battles as Levon takes them out individually. One of A Working Man's downsides is that the villains in the film are cliched Russians. I would have loved to see Chidi Ajufo, who impressed in last year's Gladiator II, have a more expanded role as the main heavy as he holds his own in his scenes with Stham despite being negated to a petty thug.
Similarly, the supporting cast is on autopilot since the film is meant to showcase the action bravado of our lead. However, we get the always enjoyable David Harbor as Gunny Lafferty, Levon's old war buddy. Nevertheless, despite my minor gripes, I recommend A Working Man, as director David Ayer and star Jason Statham deliver another film that fans will enjoy.
Final Grade: B+
A Working Man is in theaters tomorrow.
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