Movie review - The Beekeeper

The Beekeeper *** (out of 5) (R) By now, Jason Statham’s fans expect a generous dose of over-the-top action sequences, with little regard for the creativity (or even coherence) of the plot. Ka-ching! This one stirs up plenty of adrenalin in a standard story line that sets up a whole lot of Statham at his Stathamest.

There’s a bit of John Wick in the premise. Statham is a retired super-secret, super-skilled government agent, trying to live quietly, just tending to his titular hives. He rents space from a kind elderly lady (Phylicia Rashad), who promptly gets conned out of all her savings and $2 mil from a charity she helps manage by a multimillion dollar internet scamming operation. They target victims via spyware that freezes computers and directs their unsuspecting owners to call a number for the remedy. That leads them to a massive call center, teeming with operatives who clean out whatever they can by getting account info and passwords from the innocents.

Thus begins Jason’s obligatory revenge course, progressively wrecking facilities and killing henchmen and honchos as he works his way up the ladder to the top dogs. Jeremy Irons adds a touch of class as a former head of the CIA, overseeing security and covering up the crimes and excesses of the pyramid’s despicable young leader (Josh Hutcherson). His character’s biggest challenge is hiding his contempt for that boss. For a kicker, Rashad just happens to be the mother of an FBI agent (Emmy Raver-Lampman) who doggedly pursues the same network of baddies, but strictly by-the-book, while honor-bound to stop Statham’s vengeance campaign. His heroism is amplified by (too many) speeches about protecting the helpless from their predators, and disabling, rather than killing, most of the cops and clueless henchmen who don’t know the scumiosity (scummishness? scummery?) of their employers.

The over-the-top action is properly exciting, except for director David Ayer framing many parts of the fights too close to the lens to fully appreciate the stuntwork before us. The plot goes truly off the sanity charts as Statham zeroes in on the top bananas. I ain’t sayin’ no more about that. Better for you to learn the rest in the moment. As one of the producers, Statham seemingly spent far more on f/x and stunts than on Kurt Wimmer’s script and cast salaries. Wimmer has penned quite a few action flicks, including The Expendables 4, in which Statham co-starred.

Basically, it’s an amalgam of every revenge flick you’ve ever seen, especially by establishing Statham as an analog to Wick’s not having been the boogeyman, but the one you send to kill the boogeyman. I half expected someone to describe him as the Baba Yaga. Most those who speak portray their personae adequately to adroitly. Those without dialog will destined for orthopedic wards (if they’re lucky) or a coffin before the credits roll.

Whenever Statham is kicking butts on the screen, mine will most likely be in a seat watching it. Suspend a bit more than usual of your disbelief and enjoy the fun stuff.

The Beekeeper opens in theaters (or, for England’s Mr. Statham, theatres) on 1