HOLLYWOOD—I might get some flack for saying this, but I think Jason Statham is one of the greatest action stars we’ve had in a long time. Think of him as this generations Arnold Schwarzenegger or Slyvester Stallone. Yes, plenty of his flicks are very predictable and the dialogue can be quite stilted, but you already know that going into it.
I expected that watching “A Working Man.” Yes, the title is very cheesy and there is even a character that utters that line that just sends all levels of cringe down your spine. However, if you can dismiss the terrible dialogue, the audience member gets what the movie teases you, action. This is what you call an action movie, it’s not teases or little hints of action, it starts with action, and it ends with action. Think of “The Beekeeper” with a different title. The movie does have shades of that iconic flick “Taken” starring Liam Neesom, but not on an international scale.
Statham stars as Levon Cade, a former Royal Marines commando, who is living his days as a construction manager. He doesn’t bother anyone; he comes to work and does his job. However, the moment he sees people in distress he steps in to assist, which leads to a domino effect of intrigue, and all sorts of intricacies as we tap into that realm of human trafficking. Yes, there have been plenty of movies that have tapped into this issue and rightfully so. It is a big problem in this country and not enough is being done to protect our women, children and even some men from this vicious crime that extrapolates all over the world. It really is disgusting to even think about it.
When the daughter of his boss, Joe Garcia (Michael Pena), goes missing, Joe and his wife, Carla (Noemi Gonzalez) beg him to help them locate Jenny (Arianna Rivas), who is kidnapped after a night on the town with some of her friends. As expected, there is plenty of fist-to-fist combat, lots of gunfire, epic stunts from Statham and a few explosions here and there. It was everything I expected from a movie starring Jason Statham and I was thoroughly entertained.
I loved “The Beekeeper,” but thought a few characters in that movie were dumb as hell. Some of the characters in “A Working Man” are stupid, for going toe-to-toe with an ex-Marine who can dismantle you in the worst possible ways, but sometimes you must learn the hard way. I was surprised to learn that the actor Sylvester Stallone had a role in script duties, that might explain some of the stilted dialogue in certain parts of the movie, but director David Ayer, who previously worked with Statham on “The Beekeeper” knows what he is doing behind the camera. I don’t know if I should say this, but I could see a sequel to this movie in the near future. “A Working Man” is a solid watch and I had fun watching it, and I wasn’t bored once, unlike some other action flicks I’ve seen in the past.
