Jason Statham is the latest action star to take a spin into John Wick territory, as the next film starring The Expendables and Transporter actor will see him taking on society’s greatest monsters: internet phishing scam artists who target the vulnerable with malware. The catch here is that Statham isn’t just a disgruntled apiarist who zeroes in on online fraudsters, but also a former operative of a powerful and clandestine organization known as Beekeepers who maintain some sort of societal equilibrium.
“I protect the hive. When the system is out of balance, I correct it,” Statham says in the trailer, which has plenty of demolition, destruction, and dismemberment. Things quickly escalate beyond his initial revenge spree, and it’s not long before Statham’s character–referred to as Mr. Clay in the trailer–involves the US government in his vendetta.
The Beekeeper is directed by David Ayer (Fury and Suicide Squad) and also stars Emmy Raver-Lampman, Josh Hutcherson, Bobby Naderi, Minnie Driver, Phylicia Rashad, and Jeremy Irons. It’ll hit theaters on January 12, 2024. Statham has been busy over the last couple of years, with recent film appearances in Fast X, Meg 2: The Trench, and The Expendables 4.
Another action film to keep an eye out for that has a similar theme to The Beekeeper is Silent Night, which stars Suicide Squad’s Joel Kinnaman on a separate quest for vengeance and is directed by John Woo. What makes this film unique is that Kinnaman’s character is shot in the throat at the start of the film and lets his violent actions do the talking for him.
