The Beekeeper – An Un-BEE-lievably Good Time

If one is curious to see what all the buzz is about…they’ve come to the right place! The Beekeeper sees Jason Statham play a beekeeper and that premise should tell audiences what they really need to know, if this film is going to be for them or not. Ultimately, it’s a film that delivers exactly what it promises and what it sets out to do.

Adam Clay (Statham) lives a peaceful life tending to his bees, but when a close friend is scammed out of millions by a shady tech company, he’s forced out of retirement to get revenge and “protect the hive”. However, audiences will so learn that Clay is far from an ordinary beekeeper but rather A beekeeper, a super classified black ops group operating outside of the formal government system, whose key function was to protect the hive by any means necessary. As Clay’s campaign of bloodshed and vengeance grows, he’s drawn into an increasingly deep tangle of conspiracies and corruption with truly national stakes. Often times with these “joke” premises for action films, the end result ends up as either overly serious or boring, two things The Beekeeper very much avoids. With a tongue planted firmly in its cheek, the film radiates a self-aware charm where it knows it’s being silly and leans into that fact for maximum entertainment. In an era where modern films often take forever to truly get going, or take too long wrapping things up, this film remains refreshingly to the point. No frills, no fluff, no fat on its bone, it knows what audiences came to see and cuts to credits before it overstays its welcome.

Statham has consistently made for a reliable presence in action films, audiences are well aware of his persona and he sticks to it here. Wisely forgoing much of his dialogue (outside of bee puns) in favour of pure physicality and presence, this choice only enhances the badass aura surrounding Clay. While preferring action leads to be more vulnerable and to see them really get hurt on screen, one can’t deny that it is very satisfying to watch an unstoppable killing machine as Statham is here. The action choreography is quite impressive, handled by Jeremy Marinas of 87Eleven (the studio founded by John Wick directors, Chad Stahelski and David Leitch) who gives the fight scenes a fluid, balletic quality to them. Clay rarely uses guns here, ensuring he stuns but not kill innocents standing in his way, which offers the filmmakers many creative avenues and tools to use in each set piece, from gas pump hoses to office staplers. David Ayer’s direction captures the fights cleanly and their resulting carnage in its full glory, there is no over-edited shaky cam to be seen here.

At the end of the day, The Beekeeper is the ideal beginning of the year movie and one of Statham’s best offerings in years. It’s just pure entertainment from start to finish, packed with a hearty dose of bloody violence and laugh out loud laughs. For those in need for a fun time out at the movies, there’s no better substitute out now.

still courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios

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Alex Josevski

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