Movie review: Jason Statham is a busy bee in The Beekeeper

IN the wake of financial scams that have been happening at an alarming past these past two years, it seems appropriate that the first movie for 2024 tackles the ongoing menace of cyber crime that seems to be threaten the weak and gullible.

Starring Jason Statham, "The Beekeeper" delivered the expected action-packed performance from the seasoned actor, showcasing both its strength and weakness.

This action film follows the classic style of old-school Steven Seagal, portraying Statham as an almost invincible avenger.

Directed by David Ayer, "The Beekeeper" casts Jason Statham as Adam Clay, a former operative of Beekeepers, a covert government operation.

When a phishing company ends up getting the better of a neighbor he’s grown attached to, leading to her suicide, Clay takes it upon himself to enact revenge.

The Beekeeper is nothing complicated. It’s a January movie featuring Jason Statham as a super badass action hero. If you know anything about Jason Statham and the types of films he usually stars in, you should know exactly what you are in for.

The movie is a true blue action movie that establishes the bare minimum of character investment, just enough to show that the main character has a bit of depth and motivation behind all the action and badass things Statham does in this flick, which includes be warned: finger cutting. Despite it being a cookie cutter action flick, die-hard fans of Statham and I suspect dads, husbands and the bro's would reasonably have a good time with this movie.

This is a movie you would expect the likes of Liam Neeson or Dwayne Johnson to star in where most of the characters played by Statham,despite their different coats of paint, you somehow never get tired of watching them.

Statham is really the bee’s knees at this sort of role. His roles have a sense of cold, focused energy to them that exudes a sense of dangerous confidence. If there is a sense of catharsis from seeing baddies get brutalized in entertaining ways,The Beekeeper does exactly that.

The action is standard but clean. There aren’t any amazing stunts or whatnot, but you would still be entertained amd curious enough for the baseline plot and to go through with the story till the end.

The supporting cast is fantastic, particularly Josh Hutcherson playing effectively completely against his usual earnest and sweet good boy type as the smarmy, spoiled villain; Phylicia Rashad in a too short role; a snarling, scenery chewing Jeremy Irons, clearly having a great time; and Emmy Raver-Lampman as the moral center and emotional heart of the story.

Jemma Redgrave brings her usual gravitas to the role of US President, while Minnie Driver is pointlessly wasted in a role with about a minute of screentime.

There is a good amount of humor, the score helps keep the pace moving, and the action set pieces are tight and adrenaline pumping. Shakespeare or Spielberg it’s not, but it’s a heck of a fun ride all the same.

The humour in the film is not so much the film itself but the cringy bee-related lore and wordplay Statham repeats five or so times throughout the entire movie, and it never stops being funny.

This isn’t really a movie to be written about, only experienced. “The Beekeeper” is now playing in local movie cinemas.