A Working Man
MGM
Less is ultimately more when it comes down to David Ayer’s A Working Man, his directorial follow-up to last year’s underground hit and unrelated The Beekeeper, also starring Statham as a normal white collar Joe turning to pastures old to sort out the enemy. This time around, Statham plays a British/American construction worker in Chicago forced back into an urban military fight. On the surface, it is the usual Statham motif similar to the likes of Transporter or The Mechanic, employing Statham as attempted average member of society with superior combat skills, and his ultimately let loose, and it very much is so that very description. But what is to knock when the final product is above and beyond great as what it presents itself as?
Very much like The Beekeeper, Statham and Ayer have something here and craft a great action romp that delivers in both set-piece and entertainment value. Things blow up and people are thrown around with glass smashing and bullets flying. It is extravagant, albeit sincere in its narrative character arcs and delivers on all of its simplistic sentiments. So what's the disappointment? Well, it is not exactly a disappointment, but ultimately, the direction of the narrative thematics. Where The Working Man starts is in a similar vein to the better features of Statham’s filmography and calibre of remaining down to earth and human. The likes of the dearly underrated Blitz, Hummingbird aka Redemption or even Guy Ritchie’s The Wrath of Man, all take vested interests in the action genre but retain an endearing level of emotive interest and venture that make the feature all the immersive. A Working Man finds Statham as a construction worker and while the slow but assured rise into his past life takes centre stage, this spectacle in a similar vein of Striking Back or even Death Wish, finding Statham utilising purely construction tools and resting a sense of humanised realism as a true average joe undeniably makes this story all the more engrossing and brutal. Granted, as is, The Working Man is another decent effort into the filmography of Statham, but with a few fine tweaks could so easily slip into a territory above itself.
Supporting cast, unfortunately, results in little substance and sustenance, with the likes of Michael Pena and David Harbour blink and they’ll be missed cameos. Each adds a small dimension to ultimately brood emotive drama from Statham, but the screenplay and character arc are never quite interested in unravelling and exploring such textures. Jason Flemyng, a Statham regular in Lock Stock, Snatch and Transporter 2, pops up here, but the carnage, while fun, is all too brief to find compelling. Equally as frustrating - due to the screenplay - is Arianna Rivas, who is left to scream and shout without much material here to promote in character or conviction of her actual talent, which is, of course, a consequence in of its self but still frustrating to witness and watch.
Ayer’s particular set of political undertones undoubtedly takes precedent with the average blue-collar worker working to get their dues, as well as a more Sound of Freedom political undercurrent of underground elites’ sex trafficking of young women. Alas, it goes big and it goes loud in set pieces and destruction, with the action both entertaining and considerable. Statham - as usual - is excellent as the titular character, and while it does need some push to get the next level with certain layers restricted, his family dynamic remains effective. Nevertheless, Ayer’s film is a little too long in its tooth both narratively and in running time. The former certainly disrupts the latter. Now, it’s never boring or slow per se, but overstuffed and loaded with excessive narrative and depth that feels both repetitive and slightly stilted in feeling as if the viewer is watching the same similar scenes on repeat throughout the second act. Primarily, the mystery (that feels excessive in description) or central investigation gets severely bogged down in its own weight. Once again, The Working Man remains a decent little thriller action vehicle and another entry into the ongoing Statham action filmography, it still remains shy of upper echelon of the stars and directors work respectively.
