In the latest episode of "Jason Statham Takes On...", otherwise known as A Working Man, directed by David Ayer, our hairless hero takes on the Chicago branch of the Russian mob, as well as a crew of meth-dealing bikers, a shady bartender or two, and anyone else who stands in his way. The corrupt cops are just collateral damage.
Much like last year’s Statham/Ayer joint, The Beekeeper, A Working Man, co-written by Ayer and Sylvester Stallone, is a story of vengeance and rescue, our favourite tough-talking Brit outfitted in modest workwear while going after maliciously evil villains who have deigned to prey on innocents.
In The Beekeeper, he had a particular set of skills as a former high-level top secret government assassin, which he deployed in service of an elderly friend tormented by predatory phone scammers.
In A Working Man, he plays Levon Cade (the character and story originates from Chuck Dixon’s novel Levon’s Trade), a military vet fighting for custody of his young daughter (Isla Gie) while working a blue-collar construction job.
Levon is reluctantly pressed into service deploying his lethal gifts when Jenny (Arianna Rivas), the college-age daughter of his employers at the family-owned construction business, is kidnapped from a local bar.
As he wails his way through the network of villains involved in Jenny’s kidnapping, using coffee pots, nail guns, ropes and, later, an impressive array of artillery supplied by an old military buddy (David Harbour), his victims ask him why he’s doing this. Levon either growls in return, "Do you have a daughter?" or "Because I said I’d have her back". Fair enough!
If you had fun with The Beekeeper, a movie that is apparently best enjoyed on planes, A Working Man is essentially that, only slightly worse.
The action and fight scenes are mostly incoherent, the relatively simple bad guys vs. good guys damsel in distress rescue story cluttered by a sprawling network of characters and various side quests.
Levon poses as a meth dealer to gain access to Dimi (Maximilian Osinski), the erstwhile son of a Russian mafia leader who has taken to human trafficking as his high-dollar specialty service. It honestly seems like Levon didn’t need to spend 10 stacks on the whole charade, but whatever works.
However, Ayer always brings to the party costumes, cinematography and casting, his movies rife with a cartoonishy sleazy appeal.
Every shot is visually dynamic, whether in camera composition or elaborate production design, and every side character is an interesting choice with a weirdly compelling vibe.
Every costume is loud, from Dimi’s patterned suits, to the tacky track suits on a pair of gopnik type brothers, to the industrial goth styling of Jenny’s kidnappers.
In A Working Man, Ayer relies on pairs of hilariously outlandish heavies. When one pair is dispatched, he simply sends in two more freaky thugs, including a duo who look like Cousin It and a creepy guy in a sequined trench coat. For any of its faults, the movie is never boring to look at.
The over-the-top costuming and performances naturally stand in contrast to Statham’s understated look, as A Working Man does not contain an ounce of nuance, not that anyone was expecting any.
The only way Statham as Levon can justifiably kill off dozens over the course of roughly 72 hours is if the bad guys are really, really terrible, horrible, no good and very bad. It’s par for the course in this kind of low-rent Reacher story.
A Working Man works only within these generic confines, and while it has a certain lunkheaded appeal, it’s lacking the kind of bonkers energy that kept The Beekeeper afloat.
There are pops of mania and colorful characters to keep you hooked in (Chidi Ajufo as meth kingpin Dutch is particularly memorable), but in the grand scheme of Statham’s filmography, the shaggy A Working Man ends up on the bottom of the heap. – Tribune News Service
Summary:
Like 'The Beekeeper', but worse
