A Working Man is a new, action-packed drama with Jason Statham, directed by David Ayer. We’ve seen it before, but it’s still fun: a film almost as chaotic as TikTok, but still entertaining as the 1980s Commandos, Kickboxers and others. And it has a Polish actor in the cast, Piotr Witkowski. 

It seems that Statham is in his Steven Seagal era: the British actor just plays in everything that rhymes with “action” and tries to try himself in every role. In the last couple of years, he played an agent, the beekeeper, was fast and furious, or became the transporter. Now, he is an ex-Marine named Levon Cade, hired to find out what happened to a kidnapped daughter of his old friend.

He soon learns one thing, although it’s not really that unexpected. Apparently, the innocent girl has been kidnapped by the Russian mob. As a devoted dad himself, Levon Cade will sacrifice everything to bring the girl back. It’s already the second film Ayer and Statham have made together. We don’t know if it will be their last one. So, at least we can be sure of one thing: the eponymous working man will have to be rebranded. Instead of working at a construction site, he will soon become a butcher… 

It might be just another Jason Statham action flick, and there’s not much to write about this repeatable concept (we all have seen it before, only in different forms), but from the Polish perspective, it’s something way more. Piotr Witkowski, a 36-year-old actor known from many famous TV shows and films (including “Idź przodem, bracie”), plays a certain role in A Working Man. 

Though he appears as a Russian gangster, he’s quite often on screen, flirting with his charisma of a “funny guy,” from time to time stealing the scene with some utterly cheesy dad jokes. We all presumed Witkowski would appear for a second or two, but we are able to get used to his character and remember his role in the entire game. Such things don’t happen often; trust me on this one.

He has an entire fighting sequence with Jason Statham, which is both impressive and engaging. If you support Polish talents, watch A Working Man for Witkowski and his secondary role. Hopefully, we will see him on the international big screen more and more often.

Photo: Amazon MGM Studios 

3/5 stars

Author: Jan Tracz