“A Working Man” follows Levon Cade, a man living a simple life of working construction as he uncovers a world of corruption while searching for his boss’s daughter who was kidnapped by human traffickers.
A Clunky Start That Never Recovers
I was a big fan of last year’s “The Beekeeper.” Director David Ayer and Jason Statham reteam for “A Working Man,” but almost everything goes wrong.
The film opens with some of the most abysmal dialogue in recent memory, especially in its first 20 minutes. Statham delivers his usual dependable performance, but most of the supporting cast phones it in, draining any emotional weight the story tries to build.
A Script That Underestimates its Audience
The writing is one of the movie’s biggest downfalls. At times, it feels like it was generated by AI, with questions getting repeated in slightly different ways throughout the runtime. Several characters exist solely to dump exposition every half hour, yet the film treats them as emotional anchors. By spoon-feeding the audience at every turn, “A Working Man” strips away any sense of nuance or trust.
The action sequences, while fairly generic, do deliver bursts of fun. Editing sharpens the hand-to-hand combat and gunfire, adding immersion. Unfortunately, that precision vanishes in most other scenes, replaced by jarring cuts and drab color grading that repeatedly break the flow.
Misguided Tone on a Serious Subject
All these issues make “A Working Man” a slog to watch. Weak performances, a clumsy script and choppy editing stretch the 116-minute runtime into what feels like an endurance test.
The movie also veers into questionable territory. While it borrows heavily from “Taken” (including Statham repeating the iconic “Good luck” line), its treatment of human trafficking feels tone-deaf. Where “Taken” approached the subject with some gravity, “A Working Man” skirts seriousness to the point of making it a spectacle.
Statham isn’t the problem here – he’s one of the only bright spots. But the filmmaking around him is subpar at best, turning a weighty topic into an ill-considered, derivative mess. On nearly every level, “A Working Man” is a complete misfire.
Rating: 1 out of 5
