A satisfying, pulpy actioner from the ever-reliable Jason Statham

Jason Statham in ‘The Beekpeer’

The Beekeeper is the kind of movie you could go to when you are weighed down by pointless details, surrounded by those who do not get it and spinning around in miles of red tape. Watching Jason Statham as Adam Clay, the beekeeper of the title, cut jolly swathes of death and destruction is oddly satisfying from that headspace. 

Clay is living quietly in the barn of Eloise Parker (Phylicia Rashad), a retired teacher. Clay rears bees and helps Eloise around the house. In fact, we first meet Eloise when Clay is getting rid of a hornet’s nest in her property. Incidentally he gets rid of the hornets in an interesting way, not with cyanide like in the Agatha Christie short story but with a crushed tube light.

Eloise falls for a phishing scam and all her savings, including the two million dollars she was handling for a children’s charity, are wiped out. Eloise dies by suicide much to the horror of her daughter, Verona (Emmy Raver-Lampman), who is an FBI agent. 

While Verona feels justice cannot be done for Eloise through lack of proof, Clay has no compunctions about landing up at the scammers’ call centre with two cans of gasoline and a very bad attitude. While Clay is cutting a swathe of righteous justice through the low lives starting with slimy Garnett (David Witts), all the way up to the spaced out, sulky big boss, Derek (Josh Hutcherson), Verona is trying the legit route with fellow agent, Matt Wiley (Bobby Naderi). They receive a carte blanche from their boss, Deputy Director Prigg (Don Gilet). 

Meanwhile there are furious confabulations in the corridors of power with the former head of the CIA Westwyld (Jeremy Irons) asking the present CIA director, Howard (Minnie Driver), about this mysterious group of operatives called The Beekeepers, who are apparently above the law, and their special skills. There are strong indications of things getting sticky for the President of the United States, Danforth (Jemma Redgrave). 

When there is a pause, things get blown up or fingers get chopped off, and Statham narrows his eyes to throw a jar of honey at another assassin before blowing up one more gas station and jumping into the sea after retrieving scuba gear he had hidden earlier. A boring day at the office or a hideous commute is obviously not in Clay’s dictionary.  

The Beekeeper is currently running in theatres