Starring: Jason Statham, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Bobby Naderi, Josh Hutcherson, Jeremy Irons, David Witts, Taylor James, Phylicia Rashad, Jemma Redgrave, Minnie Driver
Distributor: Roadshow Films
Runtime: 105 mins. Reviewed in Jan 2024
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc
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One man’s brutal campaign for vengeance takes on national stakes after he is revealed to be a former operative of a powerful and clandestine organisation known as ‘Beekeepers’.
Yes, action star, Jason Statham, shows a certain expertise in beekeeping at the beginning of this film. But, he is much more. In fact, bees and beekeeping becomes a dramatic metaphor, frequently spelt out throughout the film, for a clandestine ops squad. With Statham as the star, with a background of 57 films over 25 years and still maintaining top billing, audiences will know what to expect in terms of action, violence and heroics.
But, many older audiences will immediately identify with the action. On the day of writing this review, the reviewer saw Melbourne’s The Age front page, a heading: ‘Thousands hit by fraud scam’. In the movie, venerable American television icon, Rashad, so well-remembered from The Cosby Show, is sitting at her computer, suddenly getting a message that she is being hacked, responding to a phone number on her screen and, audiences identifying with her and becoming more tense as we (and not she) see a large team of generally young hackers, smug, greedy, affluent, completely amoral, sweet-talking her, giving her instructions, yet mocking her when she is not listening, and emptying her personal and charities account.
But, on her property, is Adam Clay, an earthy biblical name for the beekeeper, who is indebted to her for her kindness to him. Of course, we are hoping that he will unmask this fraud team, wreak revenge on them. In fact, pretty quickly into the film, he does that, not just personal confrontations but firebombing the whole high-rise tower where they work. We see he has old connections with the beekeeper network.
But, this is only the beginning. He is led into even more avenging, and the characters behind the fraud and scamming have significant American political connections. He is violent in his vengeance, the kind of combination, so popular in American films (as with Clint Eastwood, for instance, in High Plains Drifter). His principle for action is to abide by the law. But, when the law fails, justice, including punishment of which is the arbiter, is required.
It is a surprise to find Irons co-starring with Statham. Irons is the former head of the CIA and involved in the finances of an IT company, which is owned by a woman who has become President of the United States (Redgrave). The focus is on her 28-year-old son Derek Danforth (Hutcherson), who is smug and smarmy, ultra-narcissistic, with no consideration for anyone (except, sometimes, his mother). He is behind the scamming. The audience will find him loathsome. So does the beekeeper…
The film has a strong supporting cast led by Raver-Lampman, FBI agent Verona Parker, who is the daughter of Rashad’s character, Eloise Parker. Minnie Driver is a Langley chief.
One hopes it is all highly far-fetched! But, given the emotion of the initial scam and the audience identifying with the drive for justice, action director Ayer, carries us along so we don’t have time to think about why they have no time for sleep, no meal breaks, no toilet stops, and how on earth the beekeeper could organise all the equipment that he uses, for fires, for weapons, for a final escape, and it all happening within a couple of days. Sequel likely. Very much willing suspension of disbelief!
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