By Geno McGahee
In 2024, THE BEEKEEPER was a hit and gave me hope that real action films would return. Jason Statham might be the action star that I’ve been waiting for and he brought an 80’s style to the big screen in THE BEEKEEPER and it made 163 million on a 40 million budget, which sent the message that we want action films back.
So, another action film A WORKING MAN came out recently, making 100 million on a 40 million budget. So, it wasn’t as big of a hit and I can see why. THE BEEKEEPER was a better film with a fun factor that isn’t as present in this new one, but we still have a decent action film on our hands here.
Cade (Statham) was a decorated soldier with incredible fighting skills that has left it all behind after his wife’s death. He now focuses on getting full custody of his daughter from his father-in-law and making a life for himself. He is working construction and it doesn’t take long for him to get into a fight. One of his workers gets jumped by a gang and he takes them all down, impressing the boss’s daughter, Jenny (Arianna Rivas).
Jenny wants to celebrate passing her first semester of college with her friends and goes barhopping, only to run into some bad guys that do sex trafficking. It worked well in TAKEN and it works well here. They kidnap Jenny and now Cade has to make the decision. Does he save her and go back to his old ways or does he let the cops handle it. There would be no movie if the cops handled it. So, obviously, he brings it.
Cade starts going up the chain, starting with the drug-dealing bartender that worked as a scout for the Russian mafia and assisted in acquiring Jenny. Cade starts his killing spree and it gets the attention of the mob bosses who are now onto him. He then kills one of the mob bosses in good fashion, dropping him into his swimming pool with weights and tied to a chair.
The film slows down a bit and gets a little repetitious as Cade goes on his killing spree. It gets muddled. There is the Russian mob boss that wants vengeance for the deaths of his sons. There’s a big drug dealer tied to the Russians. There’s another Russian guy that is on the fringes of the mob as well and then there is a fat dude with a top hat that wants to screw Jenny.
Cade continues trying to rescue Jenny, leading to a big showdown at a party and this is when the film finds its footing. As much as it got confused in the middle, the finale is one to appreciate. Statham brings it and there is plenty of carnage and great kills and even Jenny gets her kill in. They set the stage for her to kick ass by bringing up her martial arts training in the beginning.
A WORKING MAN is a good action movie, but it’s not the best Statham film by any stretch. It has moments of greatness, but it could have been much better with a focused villain. It shows what Statham does best, but it needed work and the fun factor wasn’t there like it was in THE BEEKEEPER.
Overall, I do recommend A WORKING MAN. It starts off great, gets slow, gets muddled, but then really comes together at the end.
