Lamar Reviews - "A Working Man" (Airdate 4/4/2025)
The critic score on this movie is not high, but the audience score is. Is this Jason Statham’s greatest movie? No, it is not. Could the plot be better, less complicated, and all make perfect sense? Yes, it could. Are some of the characters played so far over the top that they are almost cartoonish? Aren’t they always? I think we established that this is a Jason Statham movie, so none of this should be a surprise. You can say this about every movie he’s ever done.
He has built a fantastic career by doing basically the same thing over and over.
His 31 films have made $8.2 Billion. And his net worth is well over $100 million.
If you are looking for him to change his brand you need to make yourself comfortable, you’re going to be waiting a while.
In his last movie, The Beekeeper, that made over $162 million, he played a man that had a history of being a badass, who has walked away from all that to seek a quiet life. A person who has been kind to him gets fleeced by phone scam people, and loses her life. He seeks revenge by killing people who use the phone to ruin elderly people’s lives. Who doesn’t love to see that?
In A Working Man, he’s Levon Cade, a former military badass who just wants to be a quiet construction foreman for a family-owned company. Are we seeing a pattern here? The company is run by Joe Garcia, played by Michael Pena. All is going well until Joe’s daughter Jenny, played by Arianna Rivas, is kidnapped by human traffickers, which I’m sure we can all agree that we hate, which are employed by a Russian mobster, which we hate even more. Levon has promised to have Jenny’s back and will not let her down.
The plot, which is too complicated, involves Levon being a widower with a daughter he is trying to get custody of from a bitter father-in-law. Add a blind gunnery Sargent played by David Harbour and you have more plot than you will ever keep straight.
The movie is just shy of 2 hours, Rated-R for strong violence, language and drug content.
I dare say that not one person walked into that theater expecting something they did not get. I went on a Sunday afternoon and it was crowded. I looked around the theater and saw every possible representation of age, race, and sex. I sat on a row of 2 grandmothers, late 60’s early 70’s that ate popcorn and watched Jason Statham brutality kill the bad guys, and giggle while he did it.
Whether he is killing giant sharks in The Meg and The Meg 2 or driving cars that fly upside down and keep going in the Fast & Furious, and Transporter movies, he has proved that nothing can stop or even slow down Jason Statham at the box office.
He’s got 4 more movies lined up including another Fast & Furious and Beekeeper 2. I already have my tickets.
My Score, as a critic: 3 Buds
My Score, as an audience member: 5 Cold Buds
April 4th, 2025, 11:42 am
Lamar's Reviews
Lamar Reviews - "A Working Man" (Airdate 4/4/2025)
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Published April 4th, 2025, 11:42 am
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Lamar Reviews - "A Working Man" (Airdate 4/4/2025)
The critic score on this movie is not high, but the audience score is. Is this Jason Statham’s greatest movie? No, it is not. Could the plot be better, less complicated, and all make perfect sense? Yes, it could. Are some of the characters played so far over the top that they are almost cartoonish? Aren’t they always? I think we established that this is a Jason Statham movie, so none of this should be a surprise. You can say this about every movie he’s ever done.
He has built a fantastic career by doing basically the same thing over and over.
His 31 films have made $8.2 Billion. And his net worth is well over $100 million.
If you are looking for him to change his brand you need to make yourself comfortable, you’re going to be waiting a while.
In his last movie, The Beekeeper, that made over $162 million, he played a man that had a history of being a badass, who has walked away from all that to seek a quiet life. A person who has been kind to him gets fleeced by phone scam people, and loses her life. He seeks revenge by killing people who use the phone to ruin elderly people’s lives. Who doesn’t love to see that?
In A Working Man, he’s Levon Cade, a former military badass who just wants to be a quiet construction foreman for a family-owned company. Are we seeing a pattern here? The company is run by Joe Garcia, played by Michael Pena. All is going well until Joe’s daughter Jenny, played by Arianna Rivas, is kidnapped by human traffickers, which I’m sure we can all agree that we hate, which are employed by a Russian mobster, which we hate even more. Levon has promised to have Jenny’s back and will not let her down.
The plot, which is too complicated, involves Levon being a widower with a daughter he is trying to get custody of from a bitter father-in-law. Add a blind gunnery Sargent played by David Harbour and you have more plot than you will ever keep straight.
The movie is just shy of 2 hours, Rated-R for strong violence, language and drug content.
I dare say that not one person walked into that theater expecting something they did not get. I went on a Sunday afternoon and it was crowded. I looked around the theater and saw every possible representation of age, race, and sex. I sat on a row of 2 grandmothers, late 60’s early 70’s that ate popcorn and watched Jason Statham brutality kill the bad guys, and giggle while he did it.
Whether he is killing giant sharks in The Meg and The Meg 2 or driving cars that fly upside down and keep going in the Fast & Furious, and Transporter movies, he has proved that nothing can stop or even slow down Jason Statham at the box office.
He’s got 4 more movies lined up including another Fast & Furious and Beekeeper 2. I already have my tickets.
My Score, as a critic: 3 Buds
My Score, as an audience member: 5 Cold Buds
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