Title – A Working Man (2025)

Director – David Ayer (End of Watch)

Cast – Jason Statham, Arianna Rivas, Jason Flemyng, Michael Peña, David Harbour

Plot –  Counter-terrorism expert turned construction worker Levon Cade (Statham) is drawn back into the world he swore he’d never return too when his boss Joe Garcia’s (Pena) daughter Jenny (Rivas) is abducted by a group of human traffickers.

“Human traffickers beware”

Review by Eddie on 04/04/2025

Teaming up once more after their surprisingly successful collaboration on the 2024 “masterpiece” that was The Beekeeper, director David Ayer and collaborative partner Jason Statham are back together, enlisting the support of producer and co-writer Sylvester Stallone, to gift us A Working Man.

A loose adaptation of Chuck Dixon’s 2014 book Levon’s Trade, a book that gave birth to the Levon Cade series, Working Man is a genuine throwback action thriller that is embedded with the DNA and makeup of every stereotypical action/thriller/revenge film of a bygone era, filled with zero subtilty and nuance as it gifts us two hours of Statham doing Statham, morphing into the actors repertoire that makes Ayer’s film indistinguishable from any of Statham’s other genre efforts that have littered the cinematic landscape over the last few decades.

Well and truly one of the last remaining movie stars that literally sells his products purely off his name brand involvement, Statham has gone past the point of no return when he at one time did at least try to involve himself in films with some different edges and themes with Statham’s turn here as the hard as nails Cade going round for round with some Russian mobsters and petty criminals who have kidnapped his bosses daughter one that sees the performer barely raise a sweat on his way across two hours of paint by numbers set-ups and set-pieces.

When viewed with a purely critical eye there’s so much wrong with Working Man from its lame action (this is no John Wick), trite dialogue (very much a staple of much of Stallone’s written work), mostly horrible performances (special mention to Jason Flemyng and the 2025 worst crying scene early winner Michael Pena) and predictable narrative beats but at the same time you can’t act surprised, as for the most part Ayer’s film gives the audience exactly what was promised and its outcome can’t come as a shock to anyone that has watched a Jason Statham lead action film in the past.

What is unquestionable, unfortunate and disappointing however is the continual decline of Ayer.

The man responsible for writing Training Day and directing genuinely good films such as End of Watch and Fury has over the past decade dropped off at an alarming rate.

Following on from the highs of End of Watch in 2012, Ayer has been responsible for Sabotage, Suicide Squad, Bright and The Tax Collector and with his new era of Statham team-ups you do wonder if the filmmaker who once showed so much promise and individualism has now resigned himself to a genre specialist for hire to studios looking at low hanging fruit and quickfire commercial successes.

Unlikely to be remembered until the inevitable sequel comes our way in the not to distant future, Working Man is a low-tier product but at least it doesn’t pretend to be anything but.

Final Say –

A Working Man doesn’t have the sense of playfulness and action wins that The Beekeeper had making Ayer and Statham’s latest partnership a less enjoyable one even if it’s going to appease a lot of viewers who want exactly what this predictable actioner gives them.

2 extra large moons out of 5