This movie has no ties to The Bee Movie or Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, but there are definitely bees involved. Jason Statham is back as the mechanic…nope, different occupation in a different movie—however, there is a nod to him fixing a vehicle in this film. Statham is back in action in The Beekeeper as a beekeeper named Adam Clay. But he is not just any old run-of-the-mill beekeeper. He is a former member of a secret organization called the “Beekeepers.” And boy oh boy, expect a batch full of bee and honey jokes!
The film begins with showing the endearing relationship between the two countryside neighbours Adam and Phylicia Rashad’s character, Eloise Parker, who is a retired teacher. One day, Eloise gets a message that her computer got a virus, only to methodically fall for a phishing scam. When she realizes all of her money got siphoned out of all her savings, she commits suicide. Adam goes to check on his caring friend Eloise to find her dead, which triggers him to exact revenge on the scammers for her death. He will literally burn everyone and everything involved to the ground—John Wick style!
The Beekeeper is honey-jam-packed with some brutal deaths, despite not going too crazy on the gore. There were about two or three cool choreographed fights, while the other ones felt very similar to other films where one man takes out a bunch of bad guys clearing a building. It gave off Atomic Blonde, The Equalizer or John Wick vibes, for sure. The coolest fights were the claustrophobic ones where the enemies of Adam were super close to him, but he used that to his advantage of throwing bodies and taking meat shields.
David Ayer’s (Fury, Suicide Squad) shots in this film had a few cool action shots—from dismembering body parts to driving bodies off bridges. The various scammer buildings had some colourful interior setups that really captured the essence of The Wolf of Wall Street-style of business offices. Even the planning behind how Adam infiltrated the Danforth Estate appeared to be smartly executed and thought out. This attention to detail drove the story deeper, as Adam tears through various groups of enemies, in many different environments.
“The Beekeeper is honey-jam-packed with some brutal deaths, despite not going too crazy on the gore.”
Ayer was also able to capture the hive-full of Statham tropes from his previous films, and add some extra sweetness to this movie as well. Just from the wardrobe alone, Statham was donning his iconic suit structure seen in films like The Gentleman, Wrath of Man or The Transporter films, and he was wearing black military gear like in The Mechanic or The Expendables.
With Ayer’s ability to capture the essence of Statham films in a bottle, he even included some over the top lines that were hilariously ridiculous, with all the beekeeping references—very much like in the Fast and Furious films! The Statham classic element not buzzing in this film was his rizz levels with any other characters, but the story never called for it.
Also, it was interesting to see Statham in this movie as someone who rarely uses a gun, and gets into more hand-to-hand skirmishes. He dismantles countless guns and tends to utilize objects or other peoples’ bodies as his weapons—a little sprinkle of Jackie Chan tropes in a sense. This was probably the most stark difference between other assassin characters Statham has played before, and was refreshing to see him do it all.
“The Beekeeper offers 105 minutes of well-paced action and storytelling.”
Emmy Raver-Lampman’s Agent Verona Parker had some great lines in this film, along with her FBI partner Agent Wiley (Bobby Naderi). Their relationship looked fun and playful, but it was also probably the weakest story perspective of The Beekeeper. While it was pretty zany for both the audience and Agent Verona to learn about beekeeping through Adam’s beekeeping book for dummies, it acted as some silly fluff throughout the film. Definitely laughable, but a little painstakingly.
On the more antagonistic side of the cast, Jeremy Irons and Josh Hutcherson were very similar to Michael Nyquist and Alfie Allen’s relationship as the father and son in the first John Wick film. There were a few funny parts to Hutcherson’s Darek Danforth, mostly how he was portrayed as some Gen-Z tech billionaire—so much so that he rides a skateboard around his office space. The brattiness levels were off the charts!
Irons’ Wallace Westwyld was the father figure who manages to throw various assassins and killers in Adam’s way. He really still comes off as Alfred from the Ben Affleck Batman films, with his suave, monologuing voice that tries to add reason to certain situations. Also, seeing Irons in a full tennis outfit, not something I would have thought to see him wearing in a film. Regardless, he had some memorable quotes as well.
The score and soundtrack were a bit lacklustre, in comparison to other one-person-wrecking-crew movies like the Bourne films or Die Hard films. Even some more techno or EDM beats during some of the fights would have made sense. On the other hand, the silence in one of the last fights was enhanced by the simple sounds of grunts, knife slashing, glass crunching and fist punching.
The Beekeeper offers 105 minutes of well-paced action and storytelling. Every time a bee, beekeeping or honey joke is referenced is un-bee-lievable; you could really make a drinking game out of it! It was a fun film that captured a lot of Jason Statham-isms fans of his work will recognize, while also pushing him into new boundaries. Potentially, this could be the highest body count he has taken on solo in a film—many people were knocked out, taken down or killed in this movie. This is a great kick-off to the new year, offering some intrigue to the Beekeeper/Hive society—setting up for a possible sequel.
