Movie Review: The Beekeeper (2024)

Genre: Action Thriller  

Director: David Ayer  

Starring: Jason Statham, Josh Hutcherson, Jeremy Irons, Phylicia Rashad, Minnie Driver  

Running Time: 105 minutes  

Synopsis: In Massachusetts, the elderly Eloise Parker (Phylicia Rashad) commits suicide after losing her life savings to a phishing scam. Her tenant Adam Clay (Jason Statham) is a beekeeper, retired CIA Agent, and expert assassin. He vows revenge and destroys the responsible call centre, attracting the attention of Eloise's daughter Verona Parker (Emmy Raver-Lampman), an FBI agent. Adam's vengeance unleashes escalating violence connected to an evil conglomerate led by the snotty Derek Danforth (Josh Hutcherson) and retired CIA Director Wallace Westwyld (Jeremy Irons). 

What Works Well: Jason Statham's dry confidence as a killing machine capable of dispatching countless enemies provides potent fuel to power the action. Innovation mixes with acidic humour as the body count mounts and Adam Clay works his way up the food chain to confront dizzying heights of power. David Ayer maintains both momentum and coherence in choreographing action scenes on the edge of a sharp knife, and the cast is peppered with quality and equipped with quips to augment the sparkling production values. 

What Does Not Work As Well: The violence is eventually mind-numbing, and both the conspiracy details and the army-of-one shenanigans follow an exponential curve towards preposterous excess.

Key Quote:

Adam Clay: I'm a beekeeper. I protect the hive. Sometimes I use fire to smoke out hornets.



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