Directed by David Ayer and written by Kurt Wimmer, The Beekeeper follows Adam Clay, played by Jason Statham, a retired operative of a “Beekeeper” organization who sets out to enact revenge when his closest friend falls victim to a phishing scam. This was an interesting movie to watch. Statham had a rough year in 2023. It feels like he is trying to be in the next big franchise, but it ends up failing. It has nothing to do with him, so it can be disappointing to see the end result of what he is in. When you factor in Ayer’s track record and a January release, I was confident that this would not be good. With the positive reviews I saw, I decided to check it out ASAP. In the end, I can see why people enjoyed it. Unfortunately, every positive aspect of the film is equal every shortcoming.

When the film focuses solely on Jason Statham, whether with the action or drama, is where the film shines. I was surprised to see how well directed these scenes were when you take David Ayer’s filmography since 2016’s Suicide Squad into consideration. Ayer’s last film, The Tax Collector, felt like it would be the nail in the coffin. Fortunately, you can see where he has learned from his mistakes and applies what he has learned in this film. I found every action set piece to be terrifically choreographed and the cinematography caught every bit of detail. The choreography mimicked John Wick, which is something that many will compare this to, especially with the film’s story.

When the film opens up, we are introduced to Jason Statham’ character, known as Adam Clay. Clay works for an elderly lady as her beekeeper who has seemingly taken him in. Little is known about how they met is mentioned and much more can be left to the imagination, which is something you can also say about this “Beekeeper” organization. It seems that Clay, a former “Beekeeper” has found solitude in becoming a literal beekeeper. It’s a bit corny and too much on the nose. Even worse, throughout the film, they compare actual bees to this organization. It’s like taking the world of John Wick out of the movie. While it can be a mindless time at the film, there’s more potential to make this into a franchise worth exploring.

But that’s not what I really want to talk about. What I really want to talk about the most goes off how this story is set all in motion. The elderly lady that Clay works comes across a phishing scam that she falls for. She happens to be by herself when this all happens, which creates one of the most frustrating set-ups of a story that I have ever seen. When all of her money is taken out of her bank accounts, she literally leads to suicide, which I found to be incredibly illogical, especially when you take into consideration what Clay comes from, and even worse, when you find out that this lady’s daughter works in the FBI. If she knew what Clay came from, why not ask him for help? If her daughter is in the FBI, why not ask her for help? I honestly thought that maybe someone may have came in to kill this lady to destroy the evidence, but nope. This lady even has water boiling right before she commits suicide. It’s just all very illogical for a set up. Instead of building up on its characters, the film instead finds a way to mindlessly murder people and focus more on side characters that we don’t care about.

As much as I liked the action, I did find the film to be unnecessarily violent at times. There were just too many moments where I found myself squirming due to what was happening. It felt more like a way to entertain the audience instead of just creating authentic action set pieces. There was just no point to have Statham beat up a few bad guys who didn’t do anything. I get that they were doing something bad, but sometimes, the action can really come out of nowhere and not makes it serviceable.

Then, there is the side characters. I am not exaggerating when I say that half of the film focuses on its side characters. Whenever it’s not Statham in a big action set piece, the film focuses so much on the lady’s FBI agent daughter, Verona Parker, played by Emmy Raver-Lampman and her partner. When it’s focused on Parker, I never got the impression that she was a real person. Believe it or not, the film takes place over three days and this agent never truly grieves over her mother and actually ends up working for the bad guy in the end. She knows that Clay is doing the right thing, but she is still convinced that she needs to bring the same person down who is actually avenging her mother. It’s baffling. Who acts like this? Then, there is her partner. Instead of creating a vital story of his own with the family they establish, he instead mumbles his way from start to finish with no purpose in hindsight.

I can fathom how much is dedicated to things that don’t involve Statham and how unnecessary it all is. There’s a scene were Statham goes to an underground bunker to gather information. The next thing you know, this FBI duo also has the same information immediately and easily. When you factor in how there has only been two days during this time, it’s hard to believe. We get one scene of the the FBI flying in from a different state to join a two-minute meeting (this couldn’t have just been a Zoom call like the other scene has?), and there is simply too many characters that matter. There is no point of Jeremy Irons or Minnie Driver. As much as I like their talents, there is too much going on. It’s like a John Wick knock off, but let’s have it focus more on an agency chasing this person down.

I also want to discuss the lame twist that made zero sense. We find out that Josh Hutcherson plays the big bad who funds companies to scam others. As it turns out, he funded his mom’s presidential campaign that got her into the oval office. Worst of all, she apparently had no idea where those funds came from. Really? One, I have a hard time buying that and two, who cares. I wouldn’t have much of a problem with the film if it focused more on Statham, but the film focuses so much on illogical stuff that do not matter.

Overall, The Beekeeper is a mixed bag of sorts. When Jason Statham is on screen, whether it’s with the action or drama, is where the film shines. When the film focuses on anything else is where the film loses the momentum is needs. If this is the beginning of a franchise, I wouldn’t be disappointed. You could do a lot worse, especially with what Statham has been attached to in the past. If there is more to come out of this film, then I can only hope that they can learn from the film’s downfalls to make something extraordinary going forward. After all, Statham deserves a worthy franchise to be the main star in.

VERDICT: Okay