Jason Statham is back – and his new movie, action thriller A Working Man, which sees him re-team with The Beekeeper director David Ayer, is proving to be a mixed bag with critics.
The film sees Statham add another career to his bow: he plays Levon, a widowed former Marine who was given a new start in life when he got a job at a family-owned construction business. However, when his boss' daughter goes missing and the police prove to be useless, he's forced to dust off his old skills to find her – and manages to uncover a criminal conspiracy in the process. The film currently has a score of 64% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 44 reviews.
Deadline's review praises the action scenes, saying, "Here as in Beekeeper, [David Ayer] delivers a tightly wound action showcase for his star and keeps it moving along."
However, IndieWire thinks that's actually the movie's weak point: "Underwhelming as many of the action setpieces are in this movie, A Working Man more than makes up for that on the strength of its deep and memorable supporting cast, a rogues’ gallery of deviant weirdos."
The Hollywood Reporter, meanwhile, praises the Stath's performance, writing, "Statham’s simmering charisma is on ample display here, and if he never quite convinces as an average Joe, he’s more than convincing as someone a bad guy should never want to see coming."
Other reviews are less complimentary, though. AV Club writes, "A Working Man is as dingy and dark as its cinematography. Though these visuals certainly match the content of the film, there isn’t nearly enough going for it elsewhere to make up for it. There’s a complete lack of stakes."
Meanwhile, per The Scotsman's review, "Like last year’s cheap-looking The Beekeeper, it finds Statham re-teaming with director David Ayer for a film that could have been lean, mean revenge movie, but soon gets bogged down in tedious criminal conspiracy subplots."
A Working Man arrives in theaters on March 28. For more viewing inspiration, get up to speed on the rest of this year's upcoming movies at a glance with our guide to 2025's biggest movie release dates.
