A Working Man

Jason Statham and Director David Ayer deliver another slam bang thriller with A WORKING MAN, building explosively off their last success, "The Beekeeper".

For those of us old enough to remember, or with a fondness for 70's cinema, their partnership reminds me of Charles Bronson and Director Michael Winner, who turned out hit after hit back in the day. With hits like "The Mechanic" (1972) and "Death Wish" (1974) they found an action rhythm that connected with audiences.

Statham & Ayer seem to be finding that same groove here.

Opening with a very cool, James Bond-like title sequence set to Jared Michael Fry's music score, we meet Statham's Levon Cade, a former counter-terrorism agent trying to live a quieter life. He's efficiently running a construction site for friend Joe Garcia (Michael Pena) and Garcia's family.

Local gangs come a-calling and Cade's old skills emerge immediately. It's a fun scene and an early example of exactly why you bought your ticket.

Joe's daughter Jenny (Arianna Rivas) heads out with her friends to celebrate her first college semester and she's kidnapped by a rogue division of a Russian gang.

This gang is filled with the most eccentric, wild band of villains in recent memory.

Sylvester Stallone wrote the screenplay and its the absolute best and worst of Stallone on display. The dialogue can be cliche, but the man knows his way around an action one liner, those witty quips that our hero drops right before pulling the pin or plunging the dagger. "That's for slapping your wife" was a standout.

Cade goes to meet his trusted best friend and blind former soldier Gunny, well played by David Harbour (Black Widow, Hellboy, Suicide Squad). Gunny provides a virtual armory worth of weapons and Cade's off and running to find Jenny.

Ayer and Statham stage some terrific action sequences, including a biker bar fight for the ages followed by a motorcycle chase. Some of their quieter confrontations are just as good.

Jason Flemyng and Maximillian Osinski are both terrific as violent organized crime leaders, one older and established and Osinski's young Dimi, a dangerously unhinged, disrespectful loose cannon that you just can't wait for Statham's Levon Cade to meet.

This is based on the first novel of the Levon Cade book series by comic author Chuck Dixon. Stallone has optioned the series. I, for one, would be happy to see Stallone, Statham and Ayer continue with a film series around Cade's adventures.

If they're all as smooth, fast and fun as A WORKING MAN, we're all in for a hell of a run.

Statham has become our most reliable big screen action hero of the 2020's and he wears the mantle well.

While it doesn't quite reach the buzzy heights of "The Beekeeper", it carves out a more than respectable B.