A Working Man won’t be in theaters until March 28, but Prime Video has the perfect alternative Jason Statham action thriller to watch in the meantime. Based on the 2014 novel Levon’s Trade by Chuck Dixon, A Working Man stars Statham as Levon Cade, a former Royal Marines commando who left his life of violence behind and now works in construction. When his boss’ teenage daughter is abducted by human traffickers, Levon goes back to his old violent ways to rescue her. In his quest to save her, he untangles a sinister government conspiracy.
Based on its trailer, A Working Man seems to be a fun throwback to gritty old-school action thrillers about righteous heroes taking down despicable villains; it’s as if Statham has replaced Liam Neeson in Taken. It’ll be more than two months before A Working Man — written by Sylvester Stallone and directed by The Beekeeper’s David Ayer — is released in theaters and Statham is back on the big screen. But Prime Video has one of Statham’s most underrated movies currently streaming, and it’s the perfect film to watch during the long wait for his new one.
Jason Statham’s Safe Is Trending On Prime Video – What The Movie Is About
Statham Is Tasked With Saving A Young Girl With Important Numbers In Her Head
One of Statham’s best action movies is currently streaming on Prime. Statham stars in Safe as Luke Wright, an ex-cop and former cage fighter, whose wife is murdered by Russian gangsters after he accidentally wins a fixed fight. The mob boss promises to do the same to anyone Luke gets close to, so he cuts off contact with all his loved ones and lives off the grid as a homeless drifter. Meanwhile, a young mathematical prodigy named Mei is kidnapped by a Triad boss to use as a human calculator to erase his crime ring’s digital footprint.
Safe was written and directed by Remember the тιтans‘ Boaz Yakin.
After Mei memorizes the code to a safe in Chinatown containing $30 million, she’s targeted by the Triads, the Russian mafia, and a bunch of dirty New York cops. Luke reluctantly takes Mei under his wing and singlehandedly protects her from the dozens of hardened killers coming after her. Throughout this dangerous journey across the city, Luke becomes a sort of father figure to Mei, who desperately needs one after being in the care of brutal gangsters. This relationship makes Safe more emotionally engaging than the average Statham action vehicle.
Safe’s Premise Is A Bit Like A Working Man’s But With A Twist
They’re Both About A Rescue Mission, But Safe Is A Little More Complicated
At its core, Safe’s premise is pretty similar to A Working Man. In both cases, Statham is a gruff badᴀss with a particular set of skills who risks everything on a rescue mission. They’re both essentially a modern urban reimagining of John Ford’s classic western The Searchers, in which John Wayne’s Confederate war veteran travels across the frontier to rescue his niece from the Native American tribe that kidnapped her. In both Safe and A Working Man, Statham’s hero is tasked with saving a girl who’s been taken by nefarious baddies.
But the premise of Safe puts an interesting twist on the more minimalistic storyline of A Working Man. In A Working Man, the girl he’s trying to save is just an innocent kid, but in Safe, she turns out to be a prodigy who’s been weaponized by criminals, which makes the whole ordeal much more complicated. Whereas A Working Man will revolve around Statham’s search for the missing kid, Safe has the kid by his side for most of the movie. They develop a heartwarming Lone Wolf and Cub-style surrogate father-daughter relationship throughout the film, which is really touching.
Despite Middling Reviews, Safe Is A Perfect Precursor To A Working Man’s Potential Plot Twists
Safe Deserves Better Than 59% On Rotten Tomatoes
As is standard for a mindless Statham action movie, Safe was met with mixed reviews from critics. It’s currently sitting at 59% on Rotten Tomatoes, just below the “rotten” threshold; it’s one of the few movies with the exact same rating from critics and audiences. But that rating doesn’t reflect what a great movie this is. It might not do enough to impress non-action movie fans, but fans of the genre will get exactly what they’re looking for from this high-octane thrill-ride.
The best an audience can hope for from an action movie is a briskly paced story bolstered by a series of exhilarating action sequences with a compelling relationship at the heart of it, and Safe has exactly that.
The best an audience can hope for from an action movie is a briskly paced story bolstered by a series of exhilarating action sequences with a compelling relationship at the heart of it, and Safe has exactly that. There are so many people coming to get Mei that Jason Statham is never too far away from a fight to the death, and the two characters’ relationship gives the movie a captivating dramatic core. Luke and Mei have both lost everyone they care about; all they have is each other, and they’ll do whatever it takes to protect that newfound bond.
