Most of us know the term “multiverse” thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and other pop culture franchises.
However the term itself was coined in 1895 by American philosopher William James – in case you didn’t’ know.
But, back to your regularly scheduled weekly movie review column!
I feel like “A Working Man” is just another entry into the Jason Statham multiverse – or at the very least offers almost no deviation in his usual repertoire of acting choices.
Sure, Statham does the majority of his own stunts and has that British sarcasm and dry humor firing on all cylinders but nothing makes it stand out.
I’m to the point where I could literally pop in any of his other films and have the same vague experience.
It always seems like he’s some Special Forces veteran with a weak tragic past that made him hide his skills in an effort to be somewhat normal until he needs said skills again.
In fact, I bet you just thought of about five movies like that – hence the “Statham Multiverse.”
Anyway, A Working Man is an American action thriller film directed by David Ayer, who co-wrote the script with Sylvester Stallone.
The film is based on the 2014 novel, Levon’s Trade, by Chuck Dixon.
It stars Statham, Michael Peña, David Harbour, Noemi Gonzalez, Arianna Rivas, Isla Gie, Andrej Kaminsky, Emmett Scanlan, Eve Mauro, Chidi Ajufo, Greg Kolpakchi, Pitor Witkowski, Maximilian Osinski, and Jason Flemyng.
Clocking in at 116 minutes long, the movie is rated R for strong violence, language throughout, and drug content.
Former Royal Marine Commando Levon Cade (Statham) works as the foreman of the Garcia Family Construction Company under Joe (Peña) and Carla (Gonzalez) Garcia.
He is close with the Garcia family while struggling to gain more time with his daughter Merry Cade (Gie) who is under her grandfather’s guardianship after the death of her mother.
When the Garcia’s teenage daughter Jenny (Rivas) is kidnapped by Russian traffickers, Levon takes matters into his own hands to get her back after a pep talk by his friend Gunny Lefferty (Harbour).
The Russian organization is run by the Bratva, led by Symon Kharchenko (Kaminsky).
After Levon kills high-ranking captain Wolo Kolisnyk (Flemyng), Symon sends his sons Danya (Kolpakchi) and Vanko (Witowski) after Levon.
Meanwhile, Levon is tracking Wolo’s son Dimi (Osinski) who runs the trafficking part of the organization.
He decides to infiltrate the organization by pretending to be a drug dealer with a helpful tip from a former military colleague that leads him to “Hattie’s” biker bar and its boss Dutch (Ajufo).
Jenny’s captors, Viper (Scanlan) and Artemis (Mauro) try to sell her to a client, but Jenny bites the man’s cheek off and is ordered to be killed.
That is until the client changes his mind and wants to punish Jenny.
Meanwhile, Levon is caught by Danya and Vanko while escaping Hattie’s but he ends up killing them, which makes things personal between him and Symon.
Things get worse for Levon when Symon convenes the Bratva war council and it’s a race against time to get Jenny back.
Overall, if you’re a Statham fan then you’ll be easily swayed into liking this flick.
I’m not hyping this up by any means, but if you want to experience all the mayhem and death then you should at least watch it on the big screen for the full effect.
