The Beekeeper
The Beekeeper fits right in among the litany of action flicks centered around a former highly-skilled killer living a normal life who is woken out of his slumber for revenge. From First Blood to John Wick, it's a well-tread road. Jason Statham stars as Adam Clay, a retired elite assassin (known as a Beekeeper) living off the grid keeping bees on a farm owned by a kind old woman (Phylicia Rashad). However, when she's targeted by a phishing scam that destroys her life, Clay comes out of retirement for revenge.
There's an awful lot of fun to be had watching Clay torture and kill his way up the ladder to find the person (Josh Hutcherson giving off massive Logan Paul douchebag vibes) ultimately responsible for running these scams stealing billions from senior citizens and non-savvy prey. In a current political climate with a nation divided on what makes a villain, writer/director Enzo Milioni has no trouble in serving up a baddie we can all root against.
The film isn't without its problems. We get Jeremy Irons as the man with the impossible task of keeping his client safe from Clay, but ultimately there's never a payoff for having someone with his pedigree in this role. Taylor James is laughably bad as a mercenary hired to stop the Beekeeper. And Emmy Raver-Lampman as an agent of the FBI (and daughter of our Beekeeper's friend) is a big miss in a role that ultimately is completely superfluous to the plot. Cutting out her part would likely get you another three big action scenes perhaps featuring more of the unhinged current Beekeeper (Megan Le) on Clay's trail instead.
The Beekeeper can't help but continue ratchet up the carnage and raise the stakes with every level Clay advances towards his ultimate target leading to a ridiculous final act that, even for a film like this, it's impossible to take seriously. That said, especially in the middle third of the film (before it starts purposefully looking to jump every shark it can find), there's quite a bit of fun to be had.
- Title: The Beekeeper
- IMDb: link
