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Apr 04, 2025 By Daniel Rester Web Exclusive

Director David Ayer and action star Jason Statham teamed up last year for the moronic film The Beekeeper. The duo is back this year with A Working Man, which was co-written by Ayer and Sylvester Stallone and based on the book Levon’s Trade (2014) by Chuck Dixon. While The Beekeeper feels like a discount John Wick (2014), A Working Man is more of a spin on Taken (2008) mixed with a potboiler that Chuck Norris or Steven Seagal might have done back in the day.

Statham plays Levon Cade, who works as a construction worker after leaving his life as a Royal Marines commando behind. After his boss’s daughter is kidnapped, Cade must turn to his skills and weapons once again in order to save her. His rescue mission isn’t simple, though, as he comes up against bikers, sex traffickers, and Russian mafia members.

For a beer-and-pizza action flick without any narrative surprises, A Working Man runs too long at 116 minutes. The overlength is particularly felt in the repetitive and dull middle section. Cade moves from one bad guy to the next while punching faces and getting answers before the inevitable climactic shootout comes.

Statham is in fine form here, but Cade is a character he could really play in his sleep by now. Still, it’s fun to watch the veteran action star beat guys with everything from buckets to bull skulls. One energetic fight scene inside of a bar is pretty entertaining, as is the bullet-filled third act.

The supporting cast members here are mostly relegated to stock villain characters or underwritten roles. The talents of David Harbour and Michael Pena are wasted as friends of Cade who get little to do. Maximilian Osinski is enjoyable as a kooky Russian named Dimi, however.

A Working Man is watchable enough, but it’s so formulaic that it will get lost among similar entries in Statham’s filmography. At least it has slightly more brain cells at work than The Beekeeper.

Author rating: 5.5/10