Grade: (7.1/10)
The Beekeeper is a perfectly acceptable action flick featuring Jason Statham as the titular protagonist both literally and figuratively.
Plot (38/50)
If you like action and you like bees, this is the movie for you. The story follows Mr. Clay, a literal beekeeper who also happens to be a retired agent of the Beekeeper organization. However, when he finds out that his neighbor committed suicide after being scammed, he goes after the scammers. He soon discovers that he’s dealing with a sophisticated operation that spans the globe. The situation comes to a head when Clay finally discovers the identity of the man in charge.
Kicking a Hornet’s Nest
The opening act set the pace of this story. It didn’t waste any time providing the catalyst needed for Mr. Clay to go hunting. Clay rents a barn from Eloise Parker, a retired elderly woman. Much of his day is spent taking care of his bee colonies. Both Eloise and Clay live quiet, relatively isolated lives. One day, Eloise gets caught up in a phishing scam that sees her lose her savings as well as ~$2 million of a charity she manages. Devastated by this development, Eloise ends her life.
That evening, when Clay goes to deliver some honey to Eloise, he finds her dead body. Special agent Verona Parker, Eloise’s daughter, arrives shortly after. When she discovers her mother’s body, she accuses Clay of murdering her and arrests him. Clay is released the following day after the police conclude that suicide was in fact Eloise’s cause of death.
Verona and Clay spend the rest of the morning talking about Eloise. The conversation takes a turn when Verona discovers that Eloise’s accounts have been emptied. She explains to Clay that the organization responsible for phishing her mother have eluded the FBI for years. Clay absorbs this information and immediately gets to work. He calls the Beekeepers’ base of operations for more information, and he receives an address to a call center.
Buzzing Around
When Clay arrives at the call center, he tells its employees to shut everything down and leave. As the employees scatter, Mickey, the center’s manager, confronts Clay alongside his security personnel. Clay easily dispatches of Mickey’s security and proceeds to set the call center on fire. By the time the FBI arrive to the scene, the call center was destroyed and Clay was long gone. But while Clay had gone back to his bees, Mickey calls his boss, Derek Danforth, to inform him of Clay’s actions. Danforth orders Mickey to eliminate Clay.
Mickey takes some goons with him and tracks Clay down to his barn. They try to ambush Clay, but once again, he easily eliminates them. He allows Mickey to temporarily escape for the whole purpose of getting to his boss. Sure enough, Mickey calls Danforth to share the bad news. Clay disposes of Mickey and warns Danforth that he’s next. Having lost control of the situation, Danforth loops in Danforth Enterprises’ head of security, Wallace. Wallace has been babysitting Derek at the behest of Jessica, Derek’s mother. As a former CIA director, Wallace has plenty of resources at his disposal.
After learning that Clay is a Beekeeper, he reaches out to the current CIA director. She learns that Clay is a retired Beekeeper and asks the Beekeepers to eliminate him. However, when Clay disposes of the Beekeeper sent to kill him, the organization withdraws from the conflict. Now on his own, Wallace decides to take matters into his own hands. He puts together a group of highly trained operatives and informs them of the task at hand. He explains that the Beekeepers are a highly secretive organization of elite operatives tasked with preserving the integrity of the US government. As a result, they operate outside of anyone’s jurisdiction.
Checks and Balances
Wallace stations his team at the Nine Star United Center, Danforth’s base of operations, in anticipation of Clay’s assault. Meanwhile, Jessica and her partner, agent Wiley, had gotten the full support of the FBI director to stop Clay. They meet up with a SWAT team at the Nine Star United Center but are thwarted by Wallace’s team. Ultimately, neither team is able to stop Clay as he waltzes into the call center and shuts it down. There, he learns that Derek Danforth, son of the sitting president of the US, is running the operation. As Clay sets his sights on Derek, Verona warns the FBI that the president could be in danger.
Everything comes to a head at the president’s mansion as she hosts a party. Clay is able to evade the FBI and Wallace’s new team after a series of scuffles. Clay’s biggest challenge comes in the form of Lazarus, the only operative to ever kill a Beekeeper. Nonetheless, he too falls at Clay’s hands. Meanwhile, Derek had revealed to his mother that he’s been running a phishing scam that had essentially funded her campaign. Jessica is appalled by this revelation and decides to come clean, much to Derek’s frustration.
Having disposed of the last line of defense, Clay finally makes his way to Derek and the president. As part of the Beekeeper doctrine, Clay believes that the “queen bee,” in this case Derek’s mother, is likely complicit with her son’s crimes. Soon after Clay arrives, the FBI catches up. Verona pleads with Clay not to hurt the president. The ensuing standoff is cut short after Derek tries to kill his mother. Clay promptly eliminates Derek before he can hurt Jessica and swiftly makes his escape. He saved the president and avenged his friend’s death in one fell swoop.
Overall Thoughts
As I said at the beginning, the opening sequence really set the pace by getting right into the story. The movie consistently maintained its fast pace, and that’s exactly what you want to see in an action movie. Solid action and a simple premise made this a fun, easy watch as Clay worked up the organization. Derek turning out to be the president’s son was a solid twist that injected a sense of urgency into the third act. Structurally, the flow suffered from frequent cuts to Verona’s side of things. Beyond the opening act, her involvement was completely unnecessary.
Character Development (10/15)
There wasn’t much to be had in terms of character development given the simplicity of the story. Once Clay’s motives were established, he didn’t deviate from them. His moral compass is explained by his past as a Beekeeper; he’s not some cutthroat assassin. For example, he has no problem eliminating Wallace and Derek’s goons, but he generally spares law enforcement officers. Furthermore, he’s sensitive to Verona’s grief despite her early hostility. Ultimately, the biggest test of his morality comes when he must decide the president’s fate, but it’s no surprise when he does the right thing.
The other characters are fairly one-dimensional, but at least they were consistent. Verona plays the slightly unhinged, no-nonsense agent with a laid back partner. Wallace is the ex-cop with plenty of connections but without any real bite. President Danforth is the rare honest politician with a spoiled, morally corrupt son. Derek is the spoiled son that’s completely detached from the real world, although his late actions differentiate him slightly.
Theme/Messages (3/5)
- There’s some commentary on true justice.
- What happens when the checks and balances fail to keep systems under control?
- Extracting the root of a problem will sometimes lead you down a rabbit hole.
Acting (8/15)
Jason Statham (Clay) is one of the true remaining action stars. He plays this sort of role so well that he can make even the quirkiest concepts premises work as long as there’s a ton of action involved. Josh Hutcherson (Danforth) does a good job portraying the arrogant, snobby antagonist. Jeremy Irons (Wallace) and David Witts (Mickey) were also good. Emmy Raver-Lampman (Agent Verona Parker) was the obvious weak link. The script didn’t do her any favors, but her performance felt out of tune for much of the movie.
Cinematography (12/15)
The action sequences were solid. Nothing stood out though.