The Reel Review
When the daughter of his boss is kidnapped by Russian sex traffickers, a construction worker taps into his skills as a former military special ops commando to rescue her and bring her home. Jason Statham stars in this action/thriller based on the Chuck Dixon comic book “Levon’s Trade.”
Under the directorship of David Ayer (The Beekeeper, Suicide Squad, Fury), A Working Man is a total ripoff of the 2008 action/thriller Taken, just less interesting and with Statham in the Liam Neeson role. While there admittedly is some satisfaction in seeing Statham kill so many villains, the story from Sylvester Stallone and Ayer becomes so ludicrous by its predictable finale as to be laughable.
Arianna Rivas (The Harvest), as the abducted girl, shows a surprising amount of spunk in battling her Russian mobster captors in her own right. If you are looking to kill a couple of hours watching a mindless body count pileup, A Working Man is a very average, quickly forgettable serving of cinematic junk food, but Statham’s prior film, The Beekeeper, is better.
REEL FACTS
• A Working Man is the second Jason Statham film written by Sylvester Stallone, after 2013’s Homefront.
• Filming of A Working Man commenced immediately after shooting for 2024’s The Beekeeper wrapped, with many of the crew staying on in England to shoot scenes for this film.
• Liam Neeson originally was considered for the lead role in A Working Man before Statham was cast.
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