I cringe when I say this, but here is another one man against the world movie. Think quiet assassin.
Action heroes like Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Liam Neeson, Keanu Reeves and Jason Statham all do it.
I speak of taking out hordes of adversaries on their own, while living to tell the tale.
So it is in A Working Man.
Levon Cade (Jason Statham) works as a foreman for a family construction business in Chicago.
He gets on well with everyone, including the labourers and the couple that runs the business, Joe and Carla Garcia (Michael Pena and Noemi Gonzalez).
So, too, their 19-year-old daughter, Jenny (Arianna Rivas), who is still in college.
He used to be a commando with the Royal Marines – a job he held for 22 years – but those years are long behind him, or so he thought.
Cade also has a smart, young daughter, Merry (Isla Gie), who is being brought up by her maternal grandfather (Cade’s father-in-law) and to whom he has visitation rights.
The granddad has no time for Cade. There is bad blood between them.
The grandfather holds Cade responsible for the death of his daughter, being Cade's wife and Merry's mother.
And then, on a night out with girlfriends to celebrate the completion of a semester, Jenny Garcia is kidnapped by human traffickers.
Her life is in danger and the Garcias plead for Cade’s help in finding and rescuing her.
Think Liam Neeson in Taken.
So, Cade swings into action, calling on an old armed forces buddy – the now blind, but still gung-ho Gunny Lefferty (David Harbour) – to help with the heavy weaponry.
Things get a whole lot hairier when we learn of links that the human traffickers’ spotter has with the Russian mafia.
Thereafter, Cade has to work his way through an intricate web.
The first problem with A Working Man is that the plot is convoluted (you could drive a truck through it), while the acting is hardly top shelf.
As far as the latter is concerned, I am not talking about the film’s star, Statham.
By now, surely he can do what he does so frequently in his sleep and, I should add, is mighty good at it.
He has the attitude down pat too.
Rather, I am referring to some of the other actors associated with the movie, who go over the top.
Regarding the writing, that is the work of Sly Stallone and director David Ayer (who was also at the helm of Statham’s The Beekeeper, but didn’t write it). It is based on the book Levon’s Trade, by Chuck Dixon.
They could have done better. I am afraid this doesn’t have the smarts of other, more compelling actioners – think Die Hard, Taken and John Wick, for starters.
Of course, with all of these you have to suspend belief to “appreciate” what is on offer.
And for those that can never get enough of choreographed fighting, there is no shortage of violence in A Working Man.
Fists, knives, sub machine guns, hand grenades and so on. It is all there.
Action junkies and Statham fans will therefore still get something out of the movie, which even points to a sequel.
Rated MA, it scores a 5 out of 10.
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