The Beekeeper
2024
*
Director: David Ayer
Cast: Jason Statham, Jeremy Irons, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Josh Hutcherson, Minnie Driver, Bobby Naderi, Phylicia Rashad, Michelle Lee, Buster Reeves, George Georgiou
When his neighbour takes her own life after falling victim to a ruthless phishing scam, a former member of an underground organization known as The Beekeepers declares a war against the people behind the operation. 10 years ago, John Wick and The Equalizer launched an entire genre of bone-crunching action movies about a retired lone operative who goes on a one-man revenge mission/killing spree. All of these movies, including this one, get boring in minutes because they feature an emotionless hero and one-dimensional bad guys whose defining trait is their evilness. However disappointing those 2014 releases were, Jason Statham's new vehicle is stupid beyond belief, with half of its dialogue revolving around beekeeping metaphors (smoke out the hornets, protect the hive, replace the queen, etc.). The gruff and monosyllabic hero ("I keep bees") avenges a financial crime by killing everyone that comes in his way, whether they work for the villain, the FBI, or the Secret Service.
