Jason Strathairn didn’t have a very good year in 2023. In fact, a couple of his movies The Meg 2 and The Expendables 4 were downright terrible. Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre and Fast X were possible movies to watch. They had some redeeming qualities to them, Jason Strathairn is back! His latest action era is The Beekeeper, where he returns to form. 

Adam Clay is the titular “Beekeeper”; he tends to the hive and looks out for the woman who lets him live in the barn. When cybercriminals wipe out this older woman, played by Felicia Rashard of Creed and the Cosby Show Fame, finances she takes her own life in distress. At first, the Beekeeper is blamed for the tragedy but then the police realize it was a suicide. When the Beekeeper gets some information about the criminals involved in the cyber crime he takes matters into his own hands to avenge the death of this woman he cared for.

David Ayer has directed some pretty good movies in his day.  With Fury, End of Watch, and The Duicide Among them. Suicide could have been a little better if the studio didn’t mess with the final cut of the film. The Beekeeper is more in his wheelhouse as a filmmaker though. He and Statham make a good team. The fast-paced action and violence are right up their alley. They have a good sense of what they are trying to do with this character and film. It was quite an exhilarating experience. 

As aforementioned the action scenes and fighting sequences are the real draw to this movie. Statham channels Keanu Reeves’s John Wick character while disposing of one rent-a-cop or FBI Agent after another. He is like a machine that doesn’t stop. Once he has in his mind he is going to avenge the death of this woman he stops at nothing to do so. Even if the woman’s daughter, who is an FBI Agent, gets in his way. His mission is a just one even if it’s an illegal one. The criminals deserve the punishment they get. 

The main bad guy is played by Josh Hutcherson. He usually plays the good guy or teen sweetheart in book-to-screen adaptations. In his last movie Five Nights at Freddy’s he played a single father of a little girl. He progresses into different kinds of roles the older he gets. The problem with the character he plays in The Beekeeper is he’s one note. He doesn’t have a lot going on with him besides the criminal enterprises he’s involved in. He’s pretty much a sniveling weasel.  Easy fodder for Statham in this film.

One thing I loved about this film is the world Ayer and screenwriter Kurt Wimmer set up. This whole world of beekeepers and the jargon that goes along with it was pretty fascinating to me. In a way, but different, it was like a new John Wick experience. They created a new group of assassins or specially trained men and women. Who doesn’t stop until they reach the top? Their objectives are all that matters once they set their minds to something. In this case, cutting the head off of this cyber crimes snake in the form of Josh Hutcherson. I look forward to more in this world exploring this idea.

January is usually a bad month for films but The Beekeeper is the exception to the rule. It has a story people can get behind and an established star that fans have enjoyed for many years, even though he had a bad year last year. As someone who has dealt with fraud in the past, I know it’s not a good experience to get your bank account hacked. This movie hit home for me in that respect. Ayer, hopefully, will bring fans of his and Stathams back to the theaters to see this pretty brutal actioner. 

4 stars

Dan Skip Allen