Everyone has those movies that they are predisposed to like. You see a trailer or two, and you know you’re on board. Schlocky Jason Statham-action movies fit that bill exactly for me. Watching the man kick butt for 90 minutes or so inside of a ridiculous plot is right up my alley. And The Beekeeper, directed by David Ayer, is no different.
This time around, Statham plays Adam Clay, a current beekeeper and former Beekeeper. The latter is a top-secret government program that gets called in when the usual agencies (CIA, FBI, etc) can’t handle a situation. He’s since retired, now choosing to live a solitary life as an actual beekeeper – a little on the nose, sure, but that’s what you get from a movie like this. His only real contact with other people is his elderly neighbor Eloise Parker (Phylicia Rashad).
Sadly, Eloise falls for the most obvious phishing scam of all time, depleting her savings, taking her for every penny she has. Devastated, Eloise commits suicide. You can guess where this goes from here: Clay puts his very particular set of skills to work and sets off on an uber-violent revenge filled rampage to take down those responsible.
For any action thriller with Jason Statham, that action and those thrills are what audiences come for. Everything else is secondary. And the action here absolutely rips. Statham is 56 and can still hang. You put him up against almost any other actor, and he’s going to hold his own and then some. The guy is a one man wrecking crew, dispatching any and all who get in his way. The action scenes are staged well with good fight choreography. They don’t use the extended single takes like the John Wick series and other top level action movies. But they’re also not cut to pieces like a lesser movie would be. That’s the benefit of having someone as capable as Statham.
There’s also a sense of humor most Statham movies have, and The Beekeeper has it too. It’s usually quippy one-liners rather than outright jokes. But it’s something that adds a little levity to the movie. With a hook like beekeeping, there are sure to be some bee puns, and honestly, I wish there were more. But there’s enough here to mix well with the (at times, at least) brutal action.
But there’s other humor besides the actual jokes. Josh Hutcherson plays Derek Danforth, the main villain. And he is so over the top as millennial tech bro, nearly everything he does is funny. His character is such a complete loser who thinks as highly of himself as anyone possibly can. He’s set up call centers whose only purpose is to pull the same scams they pulled over on Eloise. The employees in the call centers are all essentially mini-me versions of Derek. As over the top as so much of this movie is, the call centers might just take the cake.
While Statham and Hutcherson get the flashier moments, there are other strengths with the rest of the cast. Jeremy Irons is the head of security for Derek’s company, and is actually pretty great with the basic material he’s given to work with. Minnie Driver shows up for a couple quick scenes and crushes it. Rashad is only in the movie for a few minutes, but is her usual great self. Her (albeit quick) character arc sets the stage for the rest of the events to follow, and is responsible for the underlying heart of the movie.
The one semi-weak link is Emmy Raver-Lampman. I’ve liked her in roles in the past (if you haven’t seen Gatlopp – and not many have – it’s good and she’s very good in it), so it’s not that she’s a bad actress. She just didn’t seem like the right fit for this role. She plays Verona Parker, an FBI agent tracking Clay while also trying to bring down the same people he is. Oh, and she also happens to be Eloise’s daughter.
Her character is kind of all over the place. And that could make sense, given that her mother just killed herself, and she’s working the phishing scam case that led to her suicide. It could track that her actions and emotions could swing wildly. But something felt off about, like the script tried to characterize her in several different ways to find one “best” way to go, but never settled on one direction. It didn’t fit with the rest of the characters here. She’s still fine for the most part, but in a collection of otherwise solid performances, it sticks out more than it might normally.
Now for the tricky part. The plot and the script. If someone walks out of this movie hating it, I don’t know that I could fight back too hard. The plot is absurd, and often nonsensical. For me, that’s a plus for a movie like this. Save the detailed, logical stories for better movies. For a cheap-thrills action movie, the more ridiculous the better. I want the ludicrous reveals and plot developments. I live off that stuff.
On that note, if you’re reading this before seeing the movie, do yourself a favor and don’t look up the cast list ahead of time. A brief character description is going to ruin the best reveal in the movie. This certainly caps the ceiling for The Beekeeper from a quality standpoint. But it ups the ante on the fun and overall entertainment. And for a January release, you may not need much more than that.
But The Beekeeper isn’t just “good for a January release.” It’s simply good, with the caveat being that you’re into this kind of movie. It’s got the action, the laughs, the illogical plot. The Beekeeper may not be a great movie, but not every movie has to be(e). A movie just has to be(e) itself. And if that means Jason Statham wreaking havoc taking down scummy financial scammers, well that’s only all the better.
Grade: B-
