When you know a film will be an action film and names like Jason Statham, David Ayer, and Sylvester Stallone are tied to the project, certain expectations are set. A Working Man checks several boxes: creative use of items in fight scenes, extreme military training, family drama, and caricatures of villains. It also has some surprises, such as a strong female who is much more realistic in fighting back. She isn’t just a wilting wallflower; she has more training than a self-defense class at the local rec center and less than a lifetime of training.
My adoration of these films is not based on their life-changing messages or the fact that they require my brain to engage fully. They are an escape from reality. This was a nice blend of 80’s action I grew up with and more modern twists. The story is based on Chuck Dixon’s book Levon’s Trade. Stallone and Ayer assisted with turning the book into a script. It is the first of 12 in the series. Considering that Dixon spent much of the nineties working on Batman comics, the almost comic-book noir crossovers with the story and the scenes make more sense.
This is the story of a man who has left the British military behind and now works for a family-run construction company. On a night out with her friends, the 19-year-old daughter, Jenny, is kidnapped. The owners have an idea he has some skills, and they beg him to assist; his first reaction is to say no due to his current circumstances. After thinking about what he would do for his daughter and an earlier agreement with Jenny, he changed his mind.
Like many films these days, a few too many subplots are introduced, which do not add to the story and only lead to more questions than answers. Of course, this may have been done as an opening to a sequel. Or maybe it will be a multi-episode series, which was what Stallone’s original writing was to be for.
The men who are up to no good that Levon tracks down and takes out are involved in drug trafficking, the Russian Mafia, and human trafficking. Using over-top characteristics like brothers who wear tracksuits that not even “The Toddlers” from The Gentlemen would wear, to the gleeful look on one man’s face while using an automatic weapon to shoot up a ceiling to clear a room, a buffer from the dark reality was created.
This is to say that it was an enjoyable way to spend almost two hours escaping reality. If you know what you are going into and enjoy action films, take a break, sit back, and let them fight it out on the screen.
Director: David Ayer
Cast: Jason Statham, Arianna Rivas, Jason Flemyng, Merab Ninidze
MPAA Rating: Rated R for strong language throughout and drug content.
Selig Rating: 4.5 stars
Runtime: 1h 56m
Release Date: March 28, 2025
Genre(s): Action, Thriller
Movie Site: A Working Man website
Trailer: A Working Man trailer
The Selig Rating Scale:
5 Stars – Excellent movie/show, well worth the time and price.
4 Stars – Good movie/show
3 Stars – OK movie/show
2 Stars – Well, there was nothing else…
1 Star – Total waste of time.
