The Beekeeper (15)

Mr Clay enjoys a simple, uncluttered life in the countryside, far removed from his shadowy past as an operative of a powerful and clandestine organisation known as the Beekeepers. His neighbour Mrs Parker falls victim to a phishing scam, which steals her life savings and drives Mrs Parker to suicide. Utilising his elite skill set, Clay vows revenge against the company responsible for the swindle.

LondonNet Film Review

The Beekeeper (15) Film Review from LondonNet

The combustibility of pure organic honey is tested in director David Ayer’s brutal revenge thriller starring Jason Statham as a former member of a government-sanctioned kill squad codenamed the Beekeepers, who “protect the hive” from threats to national security. A cruel phishing scam that sets the film’s rickety plot in motion is rudely interrupted by a glaring continuity error as screenwriter Kurt Wimmer rages against crypto culture, political corruption and data protection. Stilted and unnatural dialogue hobbles dramatic momentum…

When Statham’s glowering hero razes the offices of a heartless call centre, the Machiavellian owner tells a goon to: “Get a wrecking crew together and go GoodFellas on him!” The script forgives Statham’s questionable Americanese during an early exchange between the leading man and co-star Emmy Raver-Lampman. “There’s some British Isles hiding in your accent,” she observes cutely. It’s a different and more compelling story when Statham communicates with his fists and feet. Working closely with fight choreographer Jeremy Marinas, the Derbyshire-born star draws on his extensive martial arts training to perform bone-crunching stunts including frenetic fisticuffs with legions of heavily armed adversaries. If he doesn’t speak, Statham is utterly believable as a killing machine with an unwavering moral compass.

Enigmatic loner Adam Clay (Statham) enjoys a solitary life in the rolling green hills of Springfield, Massachusetts, far removed from his clandestine past as a Beekeeper. Now, Adam diligently tends six real hives and harvests the honey when he isn’t calmly removing a hornet’s nest from the barn of his neighbour, retired teacher Mrs Parker (Phylicia Rashad). “You’re a blessing,” she coos during their one brief on-screen interaction, intended to demonstrate a deep emotional bond between virtual strangers.

Mrs Parker commits suicide a few hours after a malware pop-up phishing scam plunders her life savings, pension and the children’s charity fund she manages. “Someone hurts an older person, sometimes they’re left to face the hornets alone,” growls Adam to Mrs Parker’s distraught daughter, Verona (Raver-Lampman), who happens to be an FBI agent. Adam promptly comes out of retirement to avenge Mrs Parker and he follows the money trail back to obnoxious self-made millionaire Derek Danforth (Josh Hutcherson), whose company Danforth Enterprises has hired former FBI director Wallace Westwyld (Jeremy Irons) to protect its interests. The body count rises and Verona and FBI partner Agent Wiley (Bobby Naderi) investigate.

The Beekeeper crudely welds together thrilling, propulsive and graphically violent action sequences with hurried character development and clunky sermons from Statham’s avenging angel about heartless online predators. On-screen repartee with Raver-Lampman falls flat but Irons is always reliable when it comes to chewing scenery and a little screen time goes a long way for Minnie Driver and Jemma Redgrave as powerful women in high political office. The buzz on Ayer’s film is merely ho-hum.

– Kim Hu