While watching this movie, I remembered a statement my friend made when it was released. He mentioned that with the likes of some of the movies the lead actor had acted in, especially some of the recent ones, there was this similar theme and story that we've seen, but somehow it doesn't get old. I guess you could say that was just an actor doing his thing well.
“A Working Man” is an action/thriller featuring one of the best talents in the genre. If you're a fan of action movies, you should know Jason Statham and what he can do when you give him the right things. Obviously, he was the lead character who was on a mission, as you would expect, to rescue and save his boss’s daughter who was kidnapped by human traffickers.
The movie follows Levon Cade (Jason Statham), a simple construction worker with a past military career. He kept that a secret and his past, away from most people as he was just a hardworking man to many. He continued that way until an incident at work where a worker was being beaten by a gang revealed his combat skills. That got the boss’s daughter surprised as to how he could do all that.
Things kept going well until the boss’s daughter, Jenny (Arianna Rivas) was kidnapped. This got the boss, Joe Garcia (Michael Peña) and his wife Carla Garcia (Noemí González) to solicit the help of Levon due to his skills in combat and military service. Not the life he would like to return to but he had to tap into that life again as he couldn't watch the family who had been so good to him suffer the pain when he could help rescue and save their daughter.
Levon was having his own issues. Being a single dad who wasn't even in custody of his own daughter, he had to navigate the life of periodic weekly visits to see and spend time with his daughter who lives with her grandfather. Post-traumatic effects from his military service as claimed, were held against him from having full custody of his daughter. It remained a burden to him as he loved his daughter and wanted to spend time with her and be the best dad to her.
That remains a side story. Levon had to buckle up and awaken his old self as he confronted the Russian mafia-like group that was holding his boss’s daughter captive. Well, because one of the group members' son went wayward and got into the business of human trafficking. However, the heat would have to fall on the group. Levon used his grit and wits to go through the rescue process, using brains rather than brawn in some situations.
Remember in the beginning I mentioned that a friend said something about some of Jason Statham’s movies, the recent ones especially having a similar theme and storyline? Here, it involved a loved one being in trouble and him taking it upon himself to save them using his experience, skills and resources. It's always nice to watch Jason Statham do his thing in the action genre with that straight face and all-business look.
This, however was a bit lacking unlike some of the previous ones I've seen. It wasn't an unfamiliar storyline to fans of the action genre, but it lacked some deeper elements. Jason Statham did his thing well, but it felt like watching one of those action movies, with a good actor though. Especially with the kidnapping story and going for the rescue, though this wasn't based on some revenge or so because the kidnappers were human traffickers in this case and are just doing it for business. That probably gave a different perspective to it.
It was a fairly good watch. As a fan of action movies, you might find some level of satisfaction from it, or you might find it not meeting the high expectations of what you expected from the action genre. I guess you need to give it a watch and see.
Rating: 65/100
Originally posted through scrobble.life/movies.
