A Working Man

This weekend, A Working Man, the newest Jason Statham action thriller releases in theaters. A Working Man follows Levon Cade, a construction foreman, who must go back to his former skills when a local girl is kidnapped by human traffickers. This movie was made by the same director as The Beekeeper so I was expecting a film that was fun yet dumb just like The Beekeeper.

For the most part, this movie delivers what I expected. It is basically Taken but with Jason Statham. A seemingly ordinary guy uses a unique set of skills to rescue a girl from human traffickers. It isn't trying to do anything new but just deliver a good time. There are a lot of good action sequences in the movie, particularly in the final 20 minutes in the movie. Just like in The Beekeeper, there is something satisfying about seeing terrible people, in this case, human traffickers get beat up by Jason Statham. Also just like the Beekeeper, this movie is at least somewhat self-aware. There are a lot of over-the-top moments that the movie subtly acknowledges are ridiculous.

While the movie is a fun time, I can still acknowledge that it is not good. While it does have a little bit of that self-aware aspect too it, the movie is a bit too self-serious for its own good. The Beekeeper just goes all in with its ridiculousness while A Working Man tries to stay somewhat grounded which I think ultimately weakens the film. The Beekeeper is a lot more fun than this movie. A Working Man also tries to include too many ideas into a simple story. This movie is originally based on a book and you can kind of tell that the book was a bit more complex of a story than the movie and instead of removing extra subplots, A Working Man just oversimplifies them. The ending was also a bit weird. It felt like there was going to be some final action sequence at the very end and then there wasn't. It seems like the movie was trying to set up a sequel that probably isn't going to happen.

Overall, A Working Man is a fun enough B-level action thriller. It knows it isn't very good but it could still take itself a little less seriously. If you just want to see Jason Statham beat up a bunch of human traffickers, you will be satisfied.

Score: 6.5/10 Grade: B- Recommendation: Check it out if you like B-level action movies.