The Beekeeper

Starring: Jason Statham, Josh Hutcherson, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Jeremy Irons, Bobby Naderi, David Witts, Jemma Redgrave, Phylicia Rashad, Minnie Driver

Director: David Ayer

Adam Clay (Statham) is happy to live out a quiet existence with his bees and helping out his friend Eloise (Rashad). When Eloise falls for a phishing scandal which leaves her penniless, she takes her own life. Fueled by rage, Adam begins a quest to bring those responsible to justice. As he begins to leave a trail of destruction, he finds Eloise's daughter Verona (Raver-Lampman), who is in the FBI, and her partner Wiley (Naderi) hot on his trail. After she learns that Clay is a retired "Beekeeper", a top-secret operative who is in charge of keeping the hive intact. She uncovers a conspiracy led by young entrepreneur Derek Danforth (Hutcherson) that leads to the highest level of government.

After I mourned the lack of entertaining qualities in last week's new release Night Swim, I had little hope for this week's new Jason Statham action flick. It didn't have the best trailer, Statham can make these movies in his sleep at this point, and Director David Ayer's recent track record hasn't exactly been exciting or, to be blunt, good. His last film, The Tax Collector, pushed audiences to new levels of discomfort with its nihilistic, graphic violence and descent into unpleasant excess. And the less said about Suicide Squad the better.

All that being said, I was pleasantly surprised with this one. The story is dumb and almost hilariously so, featuring things like Statham's beekeeper actually making a living harvesting honey from bees and the villains getting revenge on Statham's character by shooting all his beehives. But that didn't make it any less entertaining. Ayer actually puts together some good action scenes (though he admirably tones back on the brutality). Adding to the ridiculous nature of the story, Adam is very easily able to find and infiltrate the organization behind the phishing scam. Something the FBI couldn't do after apparently investigating two years?

The sense of humor is something a lot of Ayer's movies lack. At times it's unintentionally funny, especially some of the situations Statham somehow is able to fight his way out of. But when it is trying to be funny it gives the movie a winning personality.

Part of this personality comes from the fantastic rapport between Emmy Raver-Lampman and Bobby Naderi. Their one-liners don't come off as forced and feel natural to their characters and the situations they find themselves in. Her characters conflicted nature also comes off as realistic as well: Help the man who is trying to avenge your mothers death or follow your duty and bring him to justice before any more people die. Speaking of the actor playing that man, if you aren't already a Statham fan this movie isn't going to sway you. He is very good at these kind of movies and knows what his audience wants. Anyone who thought he was allowing himself to become more of a punching bag in some of his recent outings will be happy to know he is in full on Terminator mode here. Josh Hutcherson makes for an interesting villain, mostly because he looks too young to be the big bad. He's not awful and is clearly having fun with a change of pace role but it does feel odd that he is the mastermind behind a national phishing scheme.

I didn't hate this one but I will admit getting further away from seeing it, it's becoming pretty forgettable. Statham does what he's good at and action fans should find plenty to enjoy despite how dumb it all ultimately is.

Grade: B-