A Working Man (2025) is competently made, and Jason Statham remains a watchable action lead. But at this point in his career, he’s playing the same role with minor variations, and the sameness is starting to wear thin. His recent teaming with director David Ayer is diminishing returns after The Beekeeper.
‘A Working Man’ Movie Review
Jason Statham continues his relentless streak of mid-tier action vehicles with A Working Man, a film that feels as workmanlike as its title suggests. Following his roles in Meg 2: The Trench and The Beekeeper, Statham trades giant sea monsters and bee-themed vengeance for a more grounded but also more generic revenge setup. He plays Levon Cade, an ex-Royal Marine Commando turned construction foreman in Chicago, in a film that’s essentially a stripped-down Taken clone without much flavor or personality to distinguish itself.
Levon leads a solitary, quietly tormented life. His attempts to gain custody of his daughter Merry—who has lived with her grandfather since the suicide of Levon’s wife—form the only real emotional thread. The closest thing he has to a family is the Garcia clan, his construction employers and close friends: Joe (Michael Peña), Carla (Noemi Gonzalez), and their daughter Jenny (Arianna Rivas). But when Jenny is abducted one night by Russian traffickers, Levon is pulled back into violence at the Garcias’ desperate request.
What follows is a predictable series of efficiently choreographed but uninspired action sequences. Directed by David Ayer—known for Suicide Squad and Fury—A Working Man feels like it wants to blend grit with redemption, but the end product is more mechanical than meaningful. There are shades of better action films here, but none of the stakes or character work land with enough weight to make it more than a passable distraction.
Adding to the mix is David Harbour as Gunny Lefferty, a blind ex-Marine Raider and one of Levon’s old comrades. It’s a performance that feels like it should add depth or novelty, but ends up feeling out of place in a film that rarely slows down to explore its characters. Sylvester Stallone also co-wrote and co-produced the film, though you wouldn’t know it from how anonymous the dialogue and plotting feel.
What A Working Man lacks most is a hook. While recent Statham-led action flicks like The Beekeeper leaned into over-the-top premises, this one tries to go for raw, grounded intensity. Unfortunately, without a stronger script or fresher perspective, that realism just feels dull. There’s little here that sticks with you after the credits roll—no standout set piece, no memorable villain, no emotional payoff.
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This isn’t to say A Working Man is outright bad. It’s competently made, and Statham remains a watchable action lead. But at this point in his career, he’s playing the same role with minor variations, and the sameness is starting to wear thin. For fans of straightforward, no-frills revenge thrillers, there might be just enough here. But for anyone hoping for something more than a by-the-numbers Jason Statham movie, A Working Man doesn’t offer much to remember.
Score: 4/10
A Working Man (2025)
- Cast: Jason Statham, Jason Flemyng, Michael Peña, David Harbour, Noemi Gonzalez, Arianna Rivas
- Director: David Ayer
- Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller
- Runtime: 116 minutes
- Rated: R
- Release Date: March 28, 2025
- Movies Like A Working Man: G20, Fight or Flight, The Gorge