99 min | R | January 12, 2024 | Amazon MGM Studios
Jason Statham punches his way through a phishing scam revenge thriller. David Ayer keeps it lean and mean. This is exactly as stupid and satisfying as it sounds.
Adam Clay is a beekeeper. He is also a Beekeeper. The first is literal. The second is a former member of a clandestine government program that protects the foundational structures of society. When his elderly landlord and friend gets wiped out by a phishing scam and takes her own life, Clay starts killing his way up the chain. The premise is absurd. The film knows it. David Ayer directs with the confidence of a man who understands that the audience came here to watch Jason Statham hurt people who deserve it.
Statham plays Clay with monastic calm and sudden violence. He has been doing this for decades and he is very good at it. The performance requires no range. It requires presence. Statham has that. Emmy Raver-Lampman plays an FBI agent trying to stop him and brings more character than the role demands. Josh Hutcherson plays the failson tech bro at the top of the scam with appropriate punchability. Jeremy Irons collects a paycheck with dignity.
Ayer has made better films and worse films. The Beekeeper is neither. It is a clean, efficient action movie that understands its own purpose. The fight choreography is crisp. The escalation is logical within its own ridiculous framework. The script by Kurt Wimmer uses the beekeeping metaphor with just enough restraint to avoid embarrassment. When Clay explains that he is protecting the hive, you accept it because the alternative is thinking about it.
This is a January action movie that delivers exactly what January action movies should deliver. Statham breaks arms. Bad people get what they deserve. The phishing scam angle gives the violence a populist edge that works. Everyone knows someone who got scammed. Not everyone gets to watch someone punch the scammer through a wall.