They won’t be studying ‘The Beekeeper’ in film schools years from now. There will be few, if any, cinephiles huddled together in discussion groups at coffee houses after viewing ‘The Beekeeper’ to analyze the movie’s intricacies. And, aside from maybe an MTV movie award for some kind of film violence honour, don’t expect ‘The Beekeeper’ to clean up on hardware at any ceremony.
BUT, what ‘The Beekeeper’ is…..and that is, a textbook vengeance thriller….it’s very, very good. Jason Statham knows the formula for this stuff awfully well, and he executes it brilliantly here. Yes, pun intended.
Plot wise, what ‘John Wick’ did for doggie cruelty, ‘The Beekeeper’ does for elderly abuse. Keanu Reeves waged war on those who hurt his pet? Statham goes equally as nuts on mean hackers who take advantage of sweet old ladies.
In ‘The Beekeeper’, Statham plays a retired assassin trying to live a quiet life in rural Massachusetts, raising bees in the barn of a kind philanthropist (Phylicia Rashad). When her life savings and a heap of charity money are wiped out by scumbag cyber thieves, leading to an even deeper tragedy, Statham goes looking for retribution the only way he knows how….kicking ass in the most outrageous, violent, landscape-chewing means possible.
That’s bad news for the spoiled rich kid who runs the wicked underground operation (Josh Hutcherson), his protector, a slimy former CIA director (Jeremy Irons) and their merry band of cardboard cut-out bad guys who exist in this tale to get mowed by the hero. Of course, a political conspiracy is revealed which provides a titch of a twist, but not with a big enough wallop to distract you from what you came to see – 56-year old Statham, in his beat up pickup truck and mesh trucker hat, beating the stuffing out of thugs half his age. (Well, maybe not Irons….but he’s mostly armed with dry quips anyway).
Give some credit to writer Kurt Wimmer and director David Ayer as well. ‘The Beekeeper’ is far from a comedy, but it IS a ton of fun thanks to it’s wink-and-a-grin humour. Again, it ain’t no masterpiece, but when it comes to bonehead diversions, this is wickedly smart.