Jason Statham is cosplaying a construction laborer when “A Working Man” begins. He’s making sure the rebar is spaced correctly and the concrete is correctly mixed. But we all know where his real strengths are: Beating up people, ferociously.

At first, “A Working Man” unfolds like a family drama. Levon Cade (Jason Statham) is a widowed father who sleeps in his car and works as a foreman for Chicago-based Garcia Construction. His young daughter, Merry (Isla Gie), lives with her maternal grandfather, a bitter, wealthy man who wants to wrest custody from Levon.

A Working Man” aspires to join the latter, but it might’ve worked better had it confined its grisly ambitions to the former. The latest collaboration between ever-reliable Brit of Few Words Jason Statham and writer-director David Ayer — who teamed up more fruitfully on last year’s “The Beekeeper,