**This post contains spoilers**
The Story- Adam Clay (Jason Statham), a member of the elite and top secret special operations force known as the Beekeepers, comes out of retirement to seek justice for his neighbor and friend, Eloise (Phylicia Rashad).
Eloise’s daughter, FBI Agent Verona (Emmy Raver-Lampman) and her partner, Matt (Bobby Naderi) follow Clay’s path of destruction, leading to Derek Danforth (Josh Hutcherson) and his lucrative phishing operation. Former CIA director, Wallace Westwyld (Jeremy Irons) tries to use his influence to protect Derek. Clay is determined, but a startling discovery might derail his plans for vengeance.
My Thoughts- Jason Statham brings his usual brand of focused intensity and relentless determination to Adam Clay. Clay is a lethal and unstoppable killing machine, but Statham also shows a humane layer for the character. You can tell Clay deeply cares about Eloise, because she’s kind to him and treats him like a human being. Clay is deadly serious about his mission to destroy the scamming call centers. There’s compassion in him, because he knows only the lowest form of scum would steal from the elderly.
Josh Hutcherson is a perfect fit for Derek, and Hutcherson plays the spoiled and narcissistic brat role with ease. Derek is a lazy idiot, a fool who wouldn’t last one day in the real world without his family’s wealth. Hutcherson does a good job of portraying Derek as someone who’s easy to hate. The way he dresses, he has to be told to sit down like a small child, and he skateboards into his workplace? Yep. Adam Clay truly is the hero in this story.
Garnett (David Witts) and Rico (Enzo Cilenti) are Derek’s stooges. They’re both sleazy snake oil salesmen. Witts and Cilenti nailed their characters, and the flashy and tacky suits were a nice touch. They try to act like big shots, but they ironically turn into blubbering cowards, when Clay confronts them.
Raver-Lampman and Naderi had good chemistry as partners. Verona doesn’t fit the profile for the common FBI agent, but she’s smart and gets the job done. Matt is a little more strait-laced, and he’s a family man. Verona and Matt provide some decent laughs, and Raver-Lampman and Naderi did a good job of playing off of each other’s characteristics.
Jeremy Irons provides the robust screen presence of a veteran actor. Wallace’s main purpose is to deliver the warnings as the harbinger of doom throughout the movie. Irons’ seriousness, as he explains the grim nature of Derek’s situation lets you know drawing the attention of a Beekeeper is a catastrophic mistake, and it’s the last mistake you’ll ever make.
I had an indifferent reaction to seeing The Beekeeper trailer a while back. Is this going to be a comedy? Are they really going to try and do a more serious film with beekeeping tied into the story? I was actually surprised how well things worked out here. You can see how seriously Adam Clay approaches beekeeping. The scenes with Clay performing his beekeeping duties are treated with respect, and you can see he has a genuine passion for it. I expected a lot of silly quips and jokes about bees, but beekeeping and everything that goes into it plays a big part in Clay’s character traits. Clay is presented as a wrecking ball that smashes anything in his path. Sure, they had a gold mine of bee and honey jokes at their disposal. I’m sure Statham could’ve pulled it off, if they decided to go that route. The path they chose works better playing to Statham’s strengths and it’s a more impressive feat, because they didn’t take the easy way out.
The clever weaving for the inner workings of beekeeping tying into the story with Clay’s mission was fantastic. Clay’s determination to protect the hive, while filling the role of a queen slayer plays into the big reveal towards the end. It makes perfect sense, because it’s easy to see why Derek is a defective offspring.
Clay easily tears through most of the opposition, including Wallace’s team of big bad special ops guys. The fight at the gas station with the current Beekeeper, Anisette (Megan Le) worked as a showcase of the old guard vs the new school. Anisette was more unhinged, but Clay’s discipline trumped her recklessness in the end. Remember, Anisette was supposed to be the surefire solution to stop Clay. It’s a crucial turning point, because Wallace knows he’s running out of options to guarantee Derek’s safety.
Clay faces a real challenge during the final fight with Lazarus (Taylor James). They needed someone to truly match Clay’s tenacity and toughness, so saving Lazarus until the end was the right move. Lazarus is the only known person in the cast to actually kill a Beekeeper, a lucky and bittersweet victory that cost him one of his legs. It’s a brutal brawl, and I’m glad Clay decisively defeated Lazarus. After everything Clay accomplished, you had to keep his invincible aura intact. Clay barely surviving Lazarus would’ve destroyed the tight consistent streak and all the effort they put into the mystique behind Clay’s character.
So Derek truly is the defective offspring of a queen, because he’s President Danforth’s (Jemma Redgrave) son. That’s the big reveal towards the end for why there’s a strong effort to protect a nincompoop who doesn’t deserve a second chance. To make matters worse for the President, her campaign was funded by Derek’s dirty money from the phishing scams. The tense standoff at the end was executed to perfection. Derek is threatening to kill his mother, guns are pointed on Clay, and Clay shoots Derek dead before he has a chance to pull the trigger.
There’s a lot to unpack here. Derek was willing to kill his own mother, who happens to be the President, presumably because he wasn’t going down alone. It’s just more proof Derek was a despicable and selfish weasel. Verona had a chance to kill Clay, but she didn’t pull the trigger. Why? Because you have to believe deep down inside, Verona knows Clay is right. Verona has to play by the rules. She has to operate within the confines of the law, but Clay told her he’s the guy you call on to take care of people like Derek. As a Beekeeper, he can be the vigilante, who’s not restricted by roadblocks and red tape.
You have to give a lot of credit to Phylicia Rashad for laying the foundation for the emotional side of the story. Her screen time is short, but she makes a strong impact. Rashad’s shocked and heartbroken reaction, when Eloise realizes she’s been scammed by one of Derek’s cronies (Garnett) is believable. The realism is there, because elderly people are prime targets for phishing scams. Eloise admitted she’s not a tech savvy person, and when the guilt was too much for her to handle, she committed suicide.
Eloise’s death is the driving force behind Clay deciding to come out of retirement. Verona understood Clay’s disgust for Derek’s scam taking advantage of a sweet old lady, who was giving and kind hearted. She had another chance to kill Clay after he jumped out of the window, but she let him go. That final knowing look from Verona and Clay’s head nod signified an understanding between the two. Derek got what he deserved, and Clay shouldn’t be punished for that.
The Beekeeper is a hard hitting action thriller, featuring a solid cast, with Jason Statham’s strong presence leading the way. It’s a brutal story of vengeance that has a good old school action movie feel to it. The Beekeeper moves fast with a good calculated pace, and Statham delivers the goods during the home stretch, as he fiercely pushes through each obstacle to complete his mission.
Rating-7/10
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