Over the years Statham has been given roles in some of the biggest franchises Hollywood has had to offer – The Fast & The Furious and The Expendables to name a couple – while other franchises – The Meg, Transporter, The Mechanic and Crank – have been built around him. Now he returns to the big screen in a film that seems to be begging to be made into another Statham- led franchise, The Beekeeper.
This time around he teams up with the often under-rated director David Ayer (Fury) and gifted blockbuster screenwriter Kurt Wimmer (Total Recall) to create a film that at times feels like a mix between The Bourne Identity and Batman Begins. Yes, there is something so mysterious about Statham’s latest character here that a reference to The Caped Crusader seems to be the only thing to truly do it justice.
See, in The Beekeeper Statham plays Adam Clay, a character with so many secrets there is no way that anybody who watches this film won’t come out of the cinema asking more questions than they have had answered. The film opens with Clay living a simple life as a beekeeper on a beautiful property owned by the retired Eloise Parker (Phylicia Rashad – Creed).
However, things take a dark turn when Eloise falls into a trap set up by an online scammer and finds all of her bank accounts, plus $2.5 million from a charity she runs, fleeced. Unable to live with what she has done, Eloise kills herself, which soon sees Adam’s path cross with her FBI Agent daughter, Verona Parker (Emmy Raver-Lampman – Blacklight), who originally blames Adam for her mother’s death.
Once that little misunderstanding is cleared up, a new secret about Adam is revealed. He is a retired member of a secret CIA division known as The Beekeepers whose only role are to protect what they call The Hive. Driven by anger against an unfair system, Adam declares war on the operation and business run by the naïve Derek Danforth (Josh Hutcherson – The Hunger Games), who despite not being the most intelligent of operators has people in powerful positions protecting him, including former CIA Chief Wallace Westwyld (Jeremy Irons – The Lion King).
When it comes to action sequences The Beekeeper is at the top of its game. Adam Clay’s method of dispatching enemies is as creative as anything you would have seen in the classic Olympus Has Fallen but when it comes to the plot there are some pretty major holes that will leave audiences a little disappointed.
First of all there are far too many questions about the character of Adam. Whether or not that is a deliberate ploy by screenwriter Kurt Wimmer so that there can be more character reveals should this turn into a franchise or just some lazy writing, it is a little frustrating. Most audience members will want to know more about this Beekeeper CIA program and would expect for things such as Clay saying that Eloise “was the first person to ever care for him” to be explained a little more.
The second major hole in the story revolves around the character of Verona. At first she seems excited by the fact that Adam is hunting down the people responsible for her mother’s death. But then as he gets higher up the chain of command she suddenly seems to be working with her Agent Matt Wiley (Bobby Naderi Bright) and her boss (Don Gilet – Doctor Who) to have Adam brought to justice. Given the body count and damage that Adam is causing on his mission, Verona having a question of morality on her mother’s behalf is understandable, but there could have been better ways to explore such an emotional event.
Still there are some parts of the screenplay that work exceptionally well. The role that Adam sees that he has life being compared to the inner workings of a bee’s natural cycle is creative and entertaining while some of the twists that reveal themselves around the Danforth family are a true stroke of genius by Wimmer and shows what he truly thinks about today’s politics.
The Beekeeper does have a few plot holes but if you are willing to overlook them you will find yourself in the middle of a blistering paced action film that once again consists of some David Ayer magic when it comes to fight sequences. Just be prepared for some frustrations around one of the more interesting (and broody) characters that Statham has played to date.
