‘A WORKING MAN’: RATED R

Unless someone has been in a coma for the last twenty or so years, it’s unlikely that even the most casual fan of action films would be surprised that Jason Statham has forged his career on the strength of his physical prowess evident in almost all his films.

The British actor, who does a lot of his own stunts, has apparently been quoted as saying something to the effect he wouldn’t get an Academy Award for his role in 2006’s “Crank” or any of his other movies.

To get a sense of Statham’s talent for action, the “Expendables” franchise is a reliable source, as well as any of the “Transporter” series or his turn as an elite assassin in “The Mechanic.” Classic films worth watching include “Snatch” and “The Bank Job.”

Now along comes “A Working Man,” yet again another target for critics who may take issue with a storyline and an excess of violence that would have been a perfect vehicle for Liam Neeson if only he wasn’t now past the age when you must take Social Security.

Speaking of Liam Neeson, the Irish actor will show up in late summer for a reboot of “The Naked Gun,” an action comedy in which he stars as Lt. Frank Drebin, Jr., the son of the inept police detective played by Leslie Nielsen in the TV series “Police Squad!” and the original “Naked Gun” film franchise.

One of Statham’s trademarks is a sarcastic sense of humor. Unfortunately, in his new role of Levon Cade he’s mostly a stoic avenger, consumed with exacting revenge against a multitude of vicious Russian thugs and drug dealers. There is no time for levity once he’s forced into action.

Levon, once in the British Royal Marines where he developed a lethal skill set, is now a construction foreman trying to leave behind the violent life of his military career. His job entails leading a crew on a major project in Chicago for the Garcia family.

Wanting only to be a working man while overcoming traumas of his past, Levon is like family to his boss, Joe Garcia (Michael Pena), along with Joe’s wife Carla (Noemi Gonzalez) and college-aged daughter Jenny (Arianna Rivas), who work in the office trailer at the construction site.

Adding to his own woes is that Levon is a widower who fights for custody of his young daughter, Merry (Isla Gie), battling in court with his ex-father-in-law, Dr. Jordan Roth (Richard Heap), who sees Levon as a PTSD-riddled former soldier unfit to raise a child.

Wanting to move on from his tormented past, Levon is put to the test on the job when a bunch of thugs show up to attack one of the workers, and they quickly regret doing so, as he delivers a severe beatdown to these aggressors to the astonishment of his crew.

To celebrate her graduation, Jenny goes out on the town with a bunch of girlfriends to dance at various sleazy clubs. This routine outing is nothing out of the ordinary until Jenny is abducted into a sordid underworld of the Russian mafia and human trafficking.

The grief-stricken Garcias, knowing of Levon’s military heroics, plead with him to undertake a rescue mission, but he initially claims he’s no longer that person. Not surprisingly, it doesn’t take long for him to reconsider, given he told Jenny he’d always have her back.

Enlisting the help of his blind Army buddy Gunny (David Harbour), Levon stocks up on an essential supply of weapons that brings an excess of firepower. Waterboarding a bartender results in Levon identifying Russian mob boss Wolo (Jason Flemyng) who suffers an unusual fate in a swimming pool.

Levon taps into the gritty Chicago underworld by impersonating a drug dealer with the aim of finding Jenny before she disappears forever in the sleazy network of sex traffickers ready to sell her to a wealthy deviant.

Our hero works his way through a parade of bad guys, including Wolo’s scoundrel son Dimi (Maximilian Osinski); the vicious tandem of Viper and Artemis (Emmett J. Scanlan and Eve Mauro); and biker bar proprietor Dutch (Chidi Ajufo). There’s no shortage of interesting characters to deal with.

Chicago is an iconic city with great architecture and incredible landmarks. Regrettably, none of that is shown here as the filming was done in England. The occasional shot of an Illinois license plate or an elevated train is not enough to create a sense of realism.

The die-hard Jason Statham fans will overlook locational flaws or the absence of a coherent plot or storyline. “A Working Man” fits perfectly into the pantheon of the British strongman’s string of exciting action thrillers.

This action genre is geared to being a crowd-pleaser and Jason Statham’s latest opus is no exception. While in the middle of the film there is a bit of a lull in the action, the climactic action really delivers fatal blows to the despicable villains.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.