What worked so expertly about The Beekeeper is that you had Jason Statham, playing to typical form as the indestructible, enigmatic hero, doing what a lot of us wish we had the power to do which is beat the crap out of scammers and dirty politicians who take advantage of senior citizens. It was wish fulfillment, in a sense. Statham didn’t exactly break the mold with his performance, but director David Ayer was smart enough to use that to the film’s advantage. Statham could play the whirlwind reaped against these fools who had it comin’ to them. Ayer and Statham make a solid pair, and they reunite for a similar tale of violent comeuppance with A Working Man. Based on a script by crime novelist and longtime Batman writer Chuck Dixon, and adapted by Statham’s pal Sylvester Stallone, it’s an old-school action flick that would’ve been right at home in 1987, a VHS tape plucked from the Erol’s store shelf and watched late on a Friday night.
While not on the level of fun as The Beekeeper, it’s tough to deny that A Working Man is a Hell of an entertaining ride, too. Statham plays former Green Beret Levon Cade, who has given up his violent past to work a construction site in Chicago. The company’s owners, Joe and Carla, played by Michael Pena and Noemi Gonzalez, treat Levon like family. It’s one of those movies where everyone just beloves the grumpy hero for no apparent reason. The first few minutes are comical for the amount of free food handed to him. But Levon has his issues, too. He sleeps in his car, for one thing, and struggles to stay in the life of his daughter (Isla Gie) following her mother’s death. Her grandfather is a real piece of work a-hole, too.
When Joe and Carla’s daughter Jenny (Arianna Rivas) is kidnapped by human traffickers, it’s up to Levon to save her in the only way he knows how. But all of his soldier skills are met with the realization that this abduction is tied into the Russian mob, and Levon will have to kill his way through the entire Family to get her back.
You’re not going to find anything novel about the storyline in A Working Man. It’s terrain Stallone knows better than almost anybody in the world, and it’s easy to see why he initially wanted to adapt it into a TV series. Statham plays the avenging force of nature, slaughtering his way through one detestable foe after another. It’s smart to put Statham in roles like this where he doesn’t have to pretend to be slick, as in The Transporter, or relatable like in so many of his other films. Statham is best when he’s asked simply to beat people up, and project an air of invincibility. We all know he’s not going to get beat up…Hell, I can scarcely remember the last time Statham took a punch, so just roll with it.
It helps that the people Statham mercilessly abuses are a bunch of clowns. While none have the sniveling pest energy of Josh Hutcherson’s politician son from The Beekeeper, the baddies in A Working Man are all stereotypes of what someone thinks Russian gangsters look like. Old mobsters with skull canes, lackeys in garish, shiny suits and bucket hats, dead-eyed lunatics carrying guns bigger than entire human beings. It doesn’t end there. Another ridiculous character, an apparent former soldier turned biker gang leader who recognizes Levon as “a working man” after he beats up his entire crew, sits in the back of a bar on a throne like he’s the king of Westeros. The more ridiculous, the better when Statham punches them in the mouth, guts them like a fish, or drowns them in their own pool.
Other than Pena, who deserves much bigger stuff than this, the supporting cast is surprisingly strong. David Harbour has a funny role as Levon’s blind military buddy, providing him with weapons and the occasional word of support. Rivas’ role as Jenny is more feisty than expected, as she’s never reduced to being a damsel in distress. She’s always fighting back and that pays dividends in the final act. I also wish we could’ve seen more from Jason Flemyng, Statham’s old co-star from Guy Ritchie’s Snatch and a Matthew Vaughn favorite. He plays a crime boss that Levon encounters early and they have some decent exchanges that never pay off.
As I mentioned before, the film is based on a book by longtime Batman writer Chuck Dixon. I’ve always liked Chuck’s work, but his stories are very gritty, gradually paced, and at times too serious for their own good. You can see how Dixon incorporates certain elements of the Dark Knight into Levon, from his surprising array of tech equipment to his detective skills. While always entertaining, A Working Man isn’t as over-the-top unhinged as The Beekeeper was, and Stallone’s dialogue, co-written with Ayer, is often clunky and corny. The tones are just very different, and that’s why this one isn’t on the same level. That said, action fans, especially those with a fondness for the blunt-edged protagonists of the ’80s and early ’90s, are going to go nuts for A Working Man, and I expect it’ll spawn a sequel or two if it does well at the box office.
A Working Man opens in theaters on March 28th.
