Jason Statham is an actor who knows where he shines. He’s a deceptively good actor with a surprising knack for comedy. But his bread and butter is the action genre. Statham has made a name for himself playing tough and gritty characters with his patented intensity and bone-cracking physicality. He certainly brings all of those qualities to his latest feature, “A Working Man”.

This is the latest movie from director David Ayer who’s working from a script he co-wrote with Sylvester Stallone. Their story is based on a 2014 novel by Chuck Dixon entitled “Levon’s Trade. While I can’t speak for the book, there’s nothing especially original about the film’s script, And despite a few sparks, Ayer’s has a tough time maintaining a steady energy. That leaves us relying on Statham whose sturdy charisma holds everything together.

This time around Statham plays Levon Cade, an ex-Royal Marines commando who has put his old life behind him. He now works as a construction manager for a family-owned Chicago-based development business. His employers, Joe (Michael Peña) and Carla (Noemi Gonzalez) Garcia have taken Levon in like family and he has developed a tight relationship with them, especially their spunky 19-year-old daughter, Jenny (Arianna Rivas).

But as always happens in movies like this, Levon is forced back into his old life after Jenny is kidnapped while out on the town with some friends. He makes a pledge to Joe and Carla that he’ll bring their daughter back and then he ‘goes to work’. Human traffickers, drug dealers, corrupt cops, the Russian mafia – they all find their way into the story, clogging things up rather than adding narrative layers as intended.

In several ways “A Working Man” hearkens back to the old-school 1980’s action flicks so many of us grew up on. Statham has always fit into that mold while still possessing his own special brand of action. The 57-year-old gets to show it off throughout the film but not as much as you might expect. That’s because the script packs so much else and has a hard time servicing it all. The slew of villains crammed into it is one thing. But it’s also underdeveloped in other areas including the domestic drama with Levon’s young daughter and his untreated PTSD.

Still Statham ensures “A Working Man” remains watchable throughout. The action we get (though questionably edited at times) is satisfying and Statham gets several good non-action scenes, some of the best being with David Harbour playing Levon’s old military pal. But in the end, the filmmakers pour a lot into what is a pretty thin premise. And despite its bloated middle section which tries to add weight, the overall story is still predictable or formulaic to a fault. “A Working Man” is in theaters now.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS