The Beekeeper is a 2024 action thriller film directed by David Ayer (Fury, Suicide Squad) and written by Kurt Wimmer. It stars Jason Statham (Snatch, The Meg), Emmy Raver-Lampman (The Umbrella Academy, Blacklight), Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games film series), Bobby Naderi (Argo, Bright), Minnie Driver (Good Will Hunting), Phylicia Rashad (The Cosby Show, Creed films), and Jeremy Irons (The Lion King, House of Gucci).

"Mr. Clay" (Statham) is a former operative of a clandestine organization called "Beekeepers". After his friend and neighbor dies by suicide after falling for a phishing scam, Mr. Clay sets out to exact revenge against the company responsible.

The Beekeeper made its debut in theaters January 12th, courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios.

THE GOOD

As a red-blooded American man who could easily survive months on buffalo wings and red meat, I am a Jason Statham guy through and through. I first came across his work with the 2002 film The Transporter which was a glimpse into what would become a wild career for one of the most badass actors working today. The England born actor has graced the big-screen with his chiseled jaw and shaved head for over 50 projects to date, some of my favorites being the previously mentioned The Transporter and the follow-up films, Death Race, Crank: High Voltage, The Mechanic, Homefront, his role as Deckard Shaw in the Fast and Furious films, and more recently Guy Ritchie’s heist thriller Wrath of Man (our full review here).

It can be considered a bad thing for an actor to get stuck in that vicious cycle of typecasting, but with Statham it just makes sense. He is destined to play the guy who beats the ass of each and every single person stupid enough to piss him off. Which brings me to the latest Statham project, The Beekeeper, which I have been looking forward to since the first trailer released. Did it live up to my high expectations? Keep reading to find out!

I don’t want to get ahead of myself but we may have yet another dynamic director/actor duo on our hands with David Ayer and Jason Statham because The Beekeeper was absolutely fantastic. This is easily a top 3 Statham movie for me and I dare to say it may even be my favorite which is really saying something. The sheer entertainment value of this film was just an another level. The revenge thriller genre is honestly pretty cut and dry, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it is easy to put all of the pieces together to deliver what hardcore fans of the genre crave. You need an engaging story that resonates with viewers, a character that is easy to root for, and some good old fashioned 90’s style action sequences.

Jason Statham is incredible, the story had me rooting so hard for him I had to fight the urge to stand up and cheer, and the action sequences put a permanent ear to ear smile on my face. I also really liked how the film found a way to include a comedic element considering just how brutally violent it is. I don’t care what it says about me that I enjoy this type of content so much, but if you are a big fan of the revenge thriller genre like I am this movie will have you fired up. I’m not exaggerating when I say that The Beekeeper is reference material when it comes to this genre, and it was even better than I could have hoped. This is quality entertainment ladies and gentlemen, simple as that.

As far as the story is concerned, The Beekeeper is short and sweet in the sense that by the time you’ve had your second handful of popcorn Statham’s character has already cracked several skulls and is knee deep in his revenge tour. They don’t waste any time whatsoever with the screenplay, but yet they somehow still manage to set the stage perfectly in terms of building up a character that is easy to root for, and a bunch of people that are the scum of the earth and even easier to root against. Writers don’t always get the glory they deserve so I feel it is worth taking a moment to appreciate Kurt Wimmer because he is a dude, simple as that. Wimmer speaks my love language when it comes to revenge thrillers, as he also co-wrote the script for the 2009 film Law Abiding Citizen, one of my favorite films in this genre and one I have seen easily 20 times.

Watching it with people who are seeing it for the first time is one of my favorite things because of the shock and awe of certain parts of the film. The fact that critics trashed this movie is yet another reason why I despise the stereotypical out-of-touch movie critics who wouldn’t know real entertainment if it bit them right on the ass. The critic consensus for Law Abiding Citizen direct from Rotten Tomatoes is as follows: “Unnecessarily violent and unflinchingly absurd, Law Abiding Citizen is plagued by subpar acting and a story that defies reason”. Huh?! I just can’t. Do yourself a favor and check out Law Abiding Citizen ASAP if you haven’t already because this genre is seriously underappreciated.

Back to the task at hand, The Beekeeper taps into our vulnerability in the age of social media or the digital age in general, particularly those of us who are elderly and easily taken advantage of. As Statham’s character says in the film, stealing from the elderly is like stealing from a child, only worse because oftentimes the elderly are left to fend for themselves with nobody looking after them. I despise people who take advantage of good people for personal gain, and this idea of fighting for the helpless against those hell bent on ruining lives just to make a dollar sure makes for some quality entertainment.

Plus this form of fraud, although exaggerated in terms of the technology used for the purposes of the film, remains a very serious problem today. Phishing scams are as prominent as they have ever been considering the fact that just clicking a link could open the floodgates as far as your personal information. I also appreciated how The Beekeeper still managed to have a comedic element amid the violence and subject matter in general which felt reminiscent of the John Wick films.

I was very impressed by the cast for The Beekeeper, and as I have made fairly clear I thought this was one of Statham’s best movies in terms of how it played to his strengths. He does best work as the brooding man of few words as he takes out the scum of the earth one by one, and he is on another level here. I feel like Statham has built enough of a following at this point to where his name alone can fill a theater as long as the trailer looks like fun. It was cool to see Josh Hutcherson as a bad guy, and I thought he was great in this role. Hutcherson plays this power hungry entitled little a-hole who finds satisfaction in ruining the lives of others. Bottom line, his character is very easy to hate which helps to progress the story. Veteran actor Jeremy Irons is fantastic as always in his role.

I’m not real familiar with singer and actress Emmy Raver-Lampman who plays FBI agent Verona Parker who is also the daughter of the elderly woman Statham’s character is out to avenge. Raver-Lampman ends up on a bit of a collision course with Statham as she teeters on hunting down the man leaving a pile of bodies in his wake, or letting him exact some much-needed vigilante justice. She reminded me of Terrence Howard’s character in The Brave One. I haven’t seen it but apparently she is in the series The Umbrella Academy which seems to be the thing she is best known for according to her filmography. As a seemingly unknown actress I thought she was really good here and I hope this role leads to more opportunities for her. I also really liked Bobby Naderi as Parker’s partner. The two had really good chemistry and he provided a nice balance of a sympathetic character who had an obvious appreciation for the vigilante justice he was witnessing first hand.

From a technical standpoint I have two words, holy shit. The Beekeeper is an hour and 45 minutes of Jason Statham kicking ass in the coolest way possible. I felt every punch and broken bone as it reverberated through the theater speakers, and each one was more satisfying than the last. The fight sequences were great, whether Statham was relying on old fashioned hand-to-hand combat or lighting bad guys up John Wick style with a hail of gunfire. The Beekeeper has some unique and sometimes hilarious kills as well, showing off some impressive creativity. The final fight Statham gets into with Taylor James’ character Lazarus which felt like the boss battle was brutal and so damn satisfying.

Lazarus is this psychotic South African mercenary who feels like he came straight from David Ayers’ The Suicide Squad and he is the first person to even come close to putting a dent in Statham’s seemingly bulletproof character. Speaking of Ayer he deserves a ton of credit for what he was able to accomplish here, further reinforcing the fact that he is more than deserving of big-time opportunities in this business. I also thought the soundtrack was perfect in the way that it matched the intensity of the film, because it is never boring not even for a second. Because The Beekeeper wastes very little time getting the action going it relies heavily on the technical elements and everything was top notch.

THE BAD

I can honestly say that I had very few issues with this film, particularly anything that I would say took away from its overall potential. With that being said, you can certainly pick apart this style of film if you want to nitpick specific details, but at the end of the day similar to the John Wick films, The Beekeeper sort of exists on the edge of reality. As an example as far as the story viewers needed to become invested quickly to allow what happened next to really matter, and that required some expedited storytelling to set the stage for the revenge tour. This of course comes at the expense of what people would deem “unrealistic” but at the end of the day film is escapism so I am more than okay with this approach. If you want to sit back and say “oh that would never happen” or “that person would never do that”, you may want to stick with documentaries or biographical dramas. Just my opinion.

THE VERDICT

An absolute gem of a revenge thriller that will have hardcore genre fans smiling ear to ear and begging for more, The Beekeeper is vintage Jason Statham and a cinematic triumph for director David Ayer. I don’t know how else so say it, I just loved this movie from start to finish, and it is hands down my most enjoyable theater experience so far this year. I get that it is still early, but the bar has been set. Call me old fashioned but when it comes to replay value I simply can’t get enough of watching good guys beat the crap out of bad guys, which is why I can’t wait to see this again.

I really hope the film has enough success to justify a sequel, but if not I will happily watch The Beekeeper on repeat once it hits Blu-ray. Do yourself a favor and see this bad boy in theaters ASAP, you can thank me later.

And just remember, The Beekeeper always protects the hive.