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Rating: 4 out of 5
I saw The Beekeeper back when it came out in theaters. When I saw the name, and it stars Jason Statham, I was like, “What the hell is this shit about?” I like Jason Statham. He plays the same role over and over, and he is awesome in his action movies, but I thought this was way out there. The first thing that came to mind was Jason Statham playing an actual beekeeper, and someone killed his queen bee, and dude goes ham. Well, that is somewhat correct. I first want to say that I absolutely LOVE this film. Every time this film comes on, I’m sitting right in my chair watching it. It is by far one of Statham’s best films. It’s pure action, and it shows that maybe you should fuck around with people. Now, I want to know if the government has a person called the Beekeeper who can whip ass and take no names. Damn, I love this film.
You might ask what the freak is The Beekeeper about? Hold on, I’ll get to it. It is not about a dude who just watches bees. The film starts in a farmhouse in rural Massachusetts. The sweet and retired schoolteacher, Eloise Parker (Rashad), lives alone but rents one of her farmhouses to Adam Clay (Statham). Clay is a quiet man living the simple life, working as a beekeeper. One day, Parker’s life is ruined when she falls for a phishing scam and loses $2 million from her charity, she runs along with all her life savings. Devastated and unable to face life, she kills herself. Clay finds Eloise Parker, and when Verona Parker (Raver-Lampman), Eloise’s daughter, rolls up, she arrests him, thinking she murdered her mother. After an investigation, Clay is released and exonerated, and Verona apologizes to him for her mistake. The spark of revenge lights in Clay’s eyes, and he contacts a secret group called the “Beekeepers” for information. When the group traces the call to a call center, shit gets real.
Now that is the appetizer of the film. After that, this film goes into full overdrive, and you start learning more about Clay. Clay rolls up to the call center, tells people that they are bad, and then proceeds to whip so much ass awesomely that it was awesome to watch. Dude burns down the call center. We soon learn that the call center is one of Derek Danforth (Hutcherson), a tech bro who is the CEO of Danforth Enterprises and the leader of an international scamming ring. Derek notifies Wallace Westwyld (Irons), his head of security and former CIA director. Wallace, realizing that Derek fucked up and pissed off a former beekeeper, asks his CIA friends to dispatch the current beekeeper to kill Clay. Shit goes wrong, and Clay kills the current beekeeper. This is when things get really bad for everyone.
This is a pure action film, and it is amazing in every way. The story is simple, but it draws you in because it is so wild to watch. We learn that Clay is a former Beekeeper who was a member of an elite, clandestine, and top-secret government program. It operates completely outside the government chain of command with the sole task of protecting the “hive,” aka society. When that system fails, a beekeeper is dispatched. They are portrayed as the greatest assassins, making all the other groups look like wimps. Wallace explained it perfectly, “The honeybee has always had a special relationship with humanity. A sacred relationship. Why? No bees, no agriculture. No agriculture, no civilization. Our nation is not unlike a beehive, with its complex systems of workers, caretakers, and even royalty. If any of the beehive’s complex mechanisms are compromised, the hive collapses. Someone, a long time ago, decided that a mechanism was needed to keep our nation safe — a mechanism outside the chain of command, outside the system. Its one mission — to keep the system safe. Beekeepers are given all resources and empowered to act on their own judgment. For decades, they have quietly worked to keep the hive safe…….. He’s not like you. You’re tier one operators, former SEAL Team Six, Delta group. You are, in other words … pussies. If you were in the same room, he would kill you.”
The film shows that Clay is on a whole different level than the elite forces, and it is awesome to watch. When Clay goes to Boston, you see everyone talking about whom they are searching for. This dude rolls up to them, tells them what an escape plan should be, and then proceeds to whip so much ass it was awesome to watch. Dude takes out the black ops team, FBI agents, and SWAT. The elevator scene was insane, how he just blew it up and walked away like a badass. Clay is relentless in his goal to bring down all the scammers until he learns who Derek’s mom is… the President of the United States. OH DAMN!
Clay goes to the President’s private island and infiltrates it. Dude goes ham. The best scene is when he fights the one-legged South African mercenary. Clay blows shit up, kills even more elite force, and then the dude fighting with the knife was fun to watch. Clay’s sole mission is to kill the queen bee because she produced a bad offspring, and Derek really needed to be offed in this film since he was a drug addict, sex fiend who stole an election. That final gunshot was a chef’s kiss.
For the acting, it was a true Jason Statham role and performance. I will say that he didn’t speak much and let his ass kicking do all the work. It was fun to watch. I need to give it to Statham; dude knows his role and limits and makes fun films. You know exactly what you are going to get in a film. Statham just has that “Don’t mess with me” aura, ’cause dude is a badass in real life and someone I don’t want to meet on the streets.
The others did their jobs to make this film awesome. Emmy Raver-Lampman as Verona Parker was that overbearing pain in the ass, intense FBI agent who annoyed me. I really didn’t like her. I must give it to Josh Hutcherson as Derek Danforth. Dude is a great actor who impresses me with the roles he plays. One minute, he is a sweet dude in the Hunger Games, and the next, he is a dude who is saving the world with a time machine. I finally can’t say enough about Jeremy Irons. When you need an actor to bring some street cred to your film, you call on him. Dude just has a way of being professional and intense in the same role.
The Beekeeper is an AWESOME film. If you love action and the standard Jason Statham film, you are going to love this film. The story is good, with an elite operative who works outside the government’s rules to ensure society moves in the right direction. The hive must always be protected. Watch this film when you have plenty of time, and watch out for those beekeepers.
