Most studio action movies follow a straightforward format. The hero loses his happy life and loving family to a criminal element, then adopts or returns to violence for retribution.The Beekeeperis no exception, presenting a narrative focused on a man who sees the world as a beehive and seeks to keep the colony in line. Though it seems by the numbers, there’s more to this action-thriller than bee-puns and beekeeper punches.
Any action movie has the potential to spawn a franchise. Some argue that movies are sold more on characters than actors these days, but the ongoing careerof Jason Statham suggeststhere are at least some exceptions. Statham’s characters are usually unmemorable nobodies, but he’s still dragged a few of them through franchises. The titular Beekeeper might struggle to return to the big screen, but he’s not gone either.
Rotten Tomatoes Score
71% Positive from 93 Reviews
Adam Clay is a taciturn beekeeper dedicated to his quiet life withhis favorite insects. He rents barn space from his kindly neighbor, retired teacher Eloise Parker. The film offers little information about Clay’s life, but he takes time to thank Eloise, who he describes as the only person who ever cared for him. Eloise falls for a phishing scheme, with the traditional hacked hard drive computer pop-up. The leader of a group of snarky Silicon Valley twenty-somethings in a fancy call center leads her through a fake IT tutorial to steal her passwords before cleaning out her accounts. They rob her savings and the children’s charity she operates. Eloise takes her own life in shame and misery. Clay arrives at her home for dinner, only to find her corpse and her FBI agent daughter, Verona. The officers briefly take Clay in, but after evidence clears his name, he shares a conversation with Verona and sets out for revenge.
Clay, not his real name, is a retired agent of amysterious extra-governmental espionageand military outfit called the Beekeepers. He uses his former co-workers' connections to track down the call center that defrauded his friend. Clay drives to the expensive building, assaults the security, douses the room in gasoline, and burns it to the ground. The branch manager phones Derek Danforth, a slimy, drug-addled failson who inherited his father’s business from his deceased dad and busy mother. He tells his underling to hire goons and track down Clay before chatting with his security director, former CIA director Wallace Westwyld. They fail, letting Clay kill each of them before using the manager’s phone to threaten Danforth. Westwyld realizes what he’s up against, tells him they’re both almost certainly doomed to die and starts calling in favors to save them.Clay will fight tothe top while Verona pursues him, pitting the Beekeeper against the government and the rich.
How doesThe Beekeeperend?
Anew Beekeeper attacksClay at a gas station, but he dispatches his unhinged replacement, inadvertently giving the FBI clues to his plan. Clay strikes a bank connected to the call center as Verona and her partner Wiley track him down. When they connect the dots and warn the higher-ups about the Beekeeper, they attempt to keep it quiet. Clay kills many private security men and beats up several SWAT team members before torturing a bank manager for information. He escapes after disarming Wiley, leaving him alive despite his attempts to stop him. Westwyld convinces Danforth to stay with his mother, the President of the United States. Verona and Wiley convince the deputy director of the FBI to write them a blank check. Westwyldhires an assassinwho killed a previous Beekeeper. These forces converge on a birthday party at the President’s beach house.
The Beekeeperprobably won’t spark a franchise. The world has likely seen the last of Adam Clay, but more has been made of worse. Though the world is undeveloped and bland, it fits the engagingly odd narrative. Adam Clay is alive at the end ofThe Beekeeper, but withdozens of murdersand countless assaults on his head, it’s hard to imagine him relaxing with his hives after it’s all over.
