The Beekeeper
A bizarre phenomenon exists wherein a movie can be very silly, yet still totally enjoyable precisely because of that silliness. The Beekeeper is one of those movies. Director David Ayer, of Suicide Squad and Fury fame, teams with writer Kurt Wimmer for a hardcore action flick structured to represent how bee colonies work and are managed. There’s a figurative queen bee, a bunch of worker bees, and – as the title implies – a beekeeper who needs to maintain the balance of the hive.
That last person would be Adam Clay (Jason Statham). He works for elderly widow Eloise Parker (Phylicia Rashad). When a bunch of scammers steal her entire life savings, Adam sets out to find them and dole out violent retribution. The trail leads to Derek Danforth (Josh Hutcherson), the tech-bro owner of a multimillion-dollar operation dedicated to cybercrime. His business is protected by a fixer, Wallace Westwyld (Jeremy Irons), who used to run the FBI. Wallace knows that Adam is not just a beekeeper, he’s also a “Beekeeper,” i.e. a retired member of a covert government program whose soldiers make the SEALs and Special Forces look like amateurs.
If you go strictly by the plot, The Beekeeper is fairly absurd. Derek’s call centers have huge TV screens, in-floor video displays, dozens of employees, and pompous, fast-talking “hosts” who orchestrate the online illegalities. Yeah, that’s definitely not how those scams work. Another whopper involves Derek’s powerful mother, although that’s a plot point you can discover for yourself. It’s also convenient that Eloise’s daughter Verona (Emmy Raver-Lampman) is an FBI agent who is allowed to work on her mother’s case. On top of that, the film has a fair number of bee puns and scenes wherein Adam describes what he’s going to do in bee-related terms.
There are two ways to look at the picture. Because of those semi-preposterous elements, you could call it “bad.” Or, conversely, you could view it as having a sense of humor, which is how I chose to view things. Certain lines of dialogue are intentionally funny, as are a few of the ways Adam dispatches villains, so believing the credibility-stretching parts are purposeful isn’t hard. With some action movies, you simply need to accept that receiving a satisfying revenge tale requires a suspension of disbelief.
Ayer makes sure to deliver on the action count. Adam carries out a ton of brutal ass-kickings over the course of the story. The fight scenes are excitingly choreographed, with the final one, in particular, providing no-holds-barred thrills. Statham occasionally works with directors who mistakenly believe being frenetic is the same as being good. That leads to action that’s inadvertently dull, as we saw in last year’s Expend4bles. Ayer knows how to stage a fight and does it well here.
Statham is not the most chameleonic actor. He has a very specific thing that he excels at. Fortunately, that thing is fun to watch. The actor brings exactly the right no-nonsense toughness to the role. Hutcherson proves an unlikely foil for Statham, but he dives so fully into his self-absorbed, entitled character that it works. The Beekeeper transcends basic-level ridiculousness through their strong efforts, as well as through the many down-and-dirty action sequences.
out of four
The Beekeeper is rated R for strong violence throughout, pervasive language, some sexual references, and drug use. The running time is 1 hour and 45 minutes.
