In the latest episode of “Jason Statham Takes On,” otherwise known as “A Working Man,” directed by David Ayer, our hairless hero takes on the Chicago branch of the Russian mob, as well as a crew of meth-dealing bikers, a shady bartender or two, and anyone else who stands in his way. The corrupt cops are just collateral damage.Much like last year’s Statham/Ayer joint, “The Beekeeper,” “A Working Man,” co-written by Ayer and Sylvester Stallone, is a story of vengeance and rescue, our favorite tough-talking Brit outfitted in modest workwear while going after maliciously evil villains who have deigned to prey on innocents.
In “The Beekeeper,” he had a particular set of skills as a former high-level top secret government assassin, which he deployed in service of an elderly friend tormented by predatory phone scammers. In “A Working Man,” he plays Levon Cade (the character and story originates from Chuck Dixon’s novel “Levon’s Trade”), a military vet fighting for custody of his young daughter (Isla Gie) while working a blue-collar construction job.Levon is reluctantly pressed into service deploying his lethal gifts when Jenny (Arianna Rivas), the college-age daughter of his employers at the family-owned construction business, is kidnapped from a local bar.
As he wails his way through the network of villains involved in Jenny’s kidnapping, using coffee pots, nail guns, ropes and, later, an impressive array of artillery supplied by an old military b.
