Should I Watch..? 'The Beekeeper' (2024)

The Beekeeper is an action thriller film released in 2024 and was directed by David Ayer. The film stars Jason Statham as a former member of a covert security operation who undertakes a violent retribution on those who stole from his kind-hearted landlady and uncovers a dangerous conspiracy. The film also stars Emmy Raver-Lampman, Josh Hutcherson, Bobby Naderi and Jeremy Irons. Despite being an American production and set entirely within the US, the film was actually shot in the UK and received a digital release shortly after its theatrical run. The film earned an impressive $152 million worldwide in spite of its relatively low budget. It also received a mildly positive response from critics who called the film an enjoyable throwback to action films of yore.

Eloise Parker is a retired schoolteacher and charity worker living a quiet life in rural Massachusetts. Her only companion is that of her tenant Adam Clay, a beekeeper living on her site who tends to keep to himself. After being scammed out of her life savings as well as the funds belonging to her charity, Eloise commits suicide. Her body is discovered by Adam and Eloise's daughter Verona, who is unaware of Adam's presence and has him arrested for her murder as she is an FBI agent. However, she soon discovers what has happened to her mother and Adam is released due to a lack of evidence.

Determined to do something about it, it emerges that Adam knows far more than just looking after bees. He is a former member of a clandestine security organisation known as the Beekeepers, dedicated to preserving society's structure and operating outside of the system. Adam contacts his old colleagues and soon discovers the location of the call centre that scammed Eloise and sets off on a bloody path of vengeance, with Verona and her partner Matt Wiley in hot pursuit...

The Beekeeper is a wonderfully old-school effort, harking back to the glory days of the action genre when all you needed was one exceptionally skilled guy (it was nearly always a guy, wasn't it?) and enough motivation to cause him to kill everybody. From Die Hard to Taken to John Wick, the film wears its influences on its sleeve and is not ashamed of any of them. And why would it? After all, Statham made his living on the back of action movies like this and he proves here that he can still go with the young pretenders to his throne. He might not be as gifted an actor as he is an action hero but the role doesn't need him to be. He is an unstoppable force of justice and that's all you need to know. He seems able to dispatch numerous foes without breaking a sweat and he looks good doing it, even getting some Wick-style lighting during some fight scenes.

The film's lack of resources doesn't hinder the ambition, though. When the film gets going, Adam's rampage rarely lets up until the very last reel and each action sequence features plenty of brutal and bloody action. Fingers get removed, multiple people are shot and stabbed and one man even gets dragged off a bridge by a moving vehicle, in a scene which is more comical than I suspect was intended. Fans of these kind of films will get exactly what they expect from this movie which plays it safe and doesn't offer too much in the way of surprise or even variation. It may be formulaic to the extreme but it's well made, exciting and has a central performer still able to summon the old muscular magic.

• According to the FBI's file on him, Adam Clay's birthday is July 26th, 1967 - which just so happens to be Statham's birthday. Weirdly, he is described as being between 40 and 50 years old even though Statham was actually 55 when the film was shot.
• The film was sold by Miramax to MGM who then sold it on again to Sky Cinema, a cable channel in the UK which suggested that the film was going to released only on streaming services. When it emerged that there were no action films due for release in early 2024, the decision was taken in October 2023 to show it in theatres first where it became a surprise hit.
• The suit Adam wears when he's tending to his bees is actually a fencing suit but with added honeycomb patterns stitched into the fabric. It's unclear if this would have been any safer than an actual beekeeping outfit...

It might be low-brow stuff but The Beekeeper does find itself struggling against a glass ceiling at times. For starters, it completely wastes the talents of stars like Irons, Redgrave and Minnie Driver who get relatively little screen time and not enough to do to make an impression. Hell, Irons has one scene with Statham and that's it! The rest of the supporting cast also struggle to make themselves heard over the explosions - Raver-Lampman and Naderi feel like characters from some buddy-cop film instead of a gritty, humourless thriller while the likes of Hutcherson, David Witts and Enzo Cilenti as the most repugnant office manager in history are weak foils for the relentless Statham. The film badly needed a sense of jeopardy and apart from a predictable narrative twist, there just isn't any.

What felt really weird was how detached from reality it all felt. Here is a guy who keeps bees who undertakes a murderous rampage, killing dozens and blowing up places with reckless abandon with barely a mention on the news and no police attempting to apprehend him. Despite his description being made available, Adam is also able to infiltrate seemingly anywhere without needing much of a disguise and even butts in on a tactical discussion by FBI agents about to storm a building without arousing much suspicion. Instead of being a man outgunned and outmatched by his opponents, Statham's character is clearly superior to everyone else on screen which takes away a lot of the film's appeal. Instead of being an exhilarating roller-coaster, the film feels more than a train ride through a warzone that doesn't stop until it reaches its final destination. There are no ups and downs, just a steady stream of excessive violence which eventually grows a bit tiresome.

Action films are a much rarer beast than they used to be and generally, more refined as well. By contrast, The Beekeeper feels primitive and a little bone-headed. But thanks to the charisma of Statham and its old-school appeal, the film is an enjoyable throwback for fans of the genre. It feels like a steak-and-chips dinner in a world of Michelin-starred chefs preparing exquisite dishes but sometimes, that's all you need. It won't change the world but it's a short-but-sweet effort nonetheless.

Great For: action fans, exceeding expectations, people who like their vigilantes using excessive force

Not So Great For: tech support workers, pushing boundaries, people who believe law enforcement are actually this useless

The traditional action thriller feels like it is in decline, at least in terms of the numbers of films being released. Back in the 1990's and 2000's, they seemed to be everywhere with legendary films like Speed, The Matrix, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Collateral, Taken and The Bourne Identity all finding huge success with both critics and audiences alike. But these days, it feels like only John Wick is keeping the flame alive. Even Statham's buddies in the unashamedly-retro Expendables series have lost interest as the fourth film was recently released to little fanfare and audience apathy.

While I'm not his biggest fan, I do respect Statham for trying his hand at roles which are more comedic and perhaps less action-orientated than his usual fare. Remember his debut back in 1998's Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels as a fast-talking street marketeer, where his comic timing and personality were far more evident than his physical gifts as a martial artist. In fact, it wasn't until The Transporter that we first saw what Statham could do and like The Beekeeper, that film was also an unexpected, low-budget surprise. Since then, he's become one of Hollywood's most reliable hard men and has cemented his place near the top of the card - but just below the likes of his Fast & Furious co-stars Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel - as the go-to guy for tough action roles.