A retired government operative, Adam Clay (played by Jason Statham), is spending his time as a literal bee keeper on the remote ranch of former teacher Eloise Parker (Phylicia Rashad). While on her computer, she gets hit with a virus that supplies her with a phone number to call upon infection. Of course, the phone number is actually to a digital crime ring led by Derek Danforth (Josh Hutcherson) that targets the elderly. After she supplies them with the information they need in order to wipe out her bank account, pension, 401k and even a charitable organization she runs, her hopelessness leads her to commit suicide. Being the only person that’s ever taken care of Clay, he feels the need to go after the people responsible. His lethal training takes over and he quickly disposes of everyone who stands in the way of his ultimate goal: get revenge for Ms. Eloise.
If the plot sounds a lot like The Equalizer, that’s because it is. Make no mistake, Statham is in his element here but it’s almost as if the writer, Kurt Wimmer, saw The Equalizer trilogy and thought “We need another one of these but with a British accent.” There’s nothing original about The Beekeeper and it’s an obvious knock off. The script is littered with cheesy lines, there’s subpar CGI explosions that aren’t fooling anybody and, of course, there are a handful of cookie-cutter action movie moments.
If all that wasn’t enough, they choked the beekeeper metaphor to death, deliberately calling it out several times throughout the film as if the audience is too stupid to remember the name of the movie they’re watching.
But, while there’s plenty to be unimpressed by, The Beekeeper has one main thing going for it: the consistent emotional response. From the opening scene, the story, performances and situation are effortless in conveying the helplessness and emotional strife of a non-tech saavy person falling victim to a scam. As the audience, you witness a lifetime of hard work, dedication and planning go down the drain and that emotion is contrasted by the jubilation in the call center. It puts the viewer completely in Clay’s camp where, right from the start of this journey, you’re rooting for him to complete his mission with reckless abandoned. It keeps your blood pumping and your adrenaline up throughout it’s 105 minute run time. Only a handful of action films can say that.
At the end of the day, this is a highly entertaining yet nothing special, slightly above average action movie. Anybody that doesn’t consider themselves computer-literate needs to watch it. It’s not every day a fictitious movie — especially one in this genre — has the potential to protect a viewer from real-life threats but The Beekeeper absolutely could.
JKG SCORE: 6.0
Untitled Film Project 