Review: The Beekeeper

Sorry for my... recent absence from this platform, but work and sickness (addendum: made about three weeks ago, now have COVID) have left me drained of real energy to get things done. Alongside that, I've been going to see a few movies again, but this one was a particularly interesting watch. What really felt at first like a standard Jason Statham movie ended up being a surprisingly well-acted Statham movie with some fun action and honestly hilarious twists that probably weren't meant to be so. This is John Wi- I mean The Beekeeper!

PLOT: Traditional action plot.

This film offers a standard action film plot "inspired" by John Wick. This film gets mostly creative in its kills but leaves its plot very simple. Whereas John Wick had fun choreography and even some solid acting and characters all around, this film keeps it far too simple. This film could've been easily more ambitious but decided to just be kind of standard action stuff. It just leaves it feeling kind of empty.

CHARACTERS: Well-acted but still fodder.

To my genuine surprise, there's a lot of good acting here. Josh Hutcherson absolutely does his job making you hate him despite his incredible charisma in other roles such as Peeta from Hunger Games or even as Mike in Five Nights at Freddy's. Jason Statham's surprisingly good here, usually he just plays the stoic type but here is a clear anger hidden under his performance combined with a sharp sarcasm that I usually don't see from him. Jeremy Irons is under-used but a ton of fun as this stoic older gentleman attempting to save his "son" from the Beekeeper himself. However, most of them are still flat as characters and mostly act as fodder for the sake of getting killed by Statham. It's frustrating when you have this many good performances wasted on nothing characters.

SHOTS: Nothing incredible.

Generally, when I have nothing to say about a film's shots, then it's just doing the bare minimum at least. Nothing harmful here, but films can be MORE engaging, guys.

SOUND: It's there?

Soundtrack here feels hollow and lifeless. With COVID affecting my brain, it's hard to even remember this film's soundtrack. It's a nothing burger.

WRITING: Solid enough for a story like this.

While certainly solid and delivering a fun adventure of Jason Statham killing folks, even with some well-written protagonists trying to survive his onslaught, it just feels kind of empty at the end because you're only attached to him as a character. It's a pretty standard story, but the acting does help sell it a bit.

CONS: Jason Statham's routine all the way.

The film is hollow mostly because it's just Jason Statham killing people again. He has a ton of movies like this, but no one ever criticizes it heavily because people want to see a badass actor doing badass things. So, overall, main criticism is do something new!

VERDICT: A solid film with creative decisions bogged down by poor characters.

Yeah, this film is fairly easy to review and doesn't require a ton to emphasize. It's just a solid flick with some creative action that ends up being bogged down by its baggage, whether it be iffy camerawork, a stale soundtrack, or even just actors who are given nothing to do. I will say at least this film redeems David Ayer from the god awful Suicide Squad and Bright. So, it does have a purpose, but, at the end of the day, it's still pretty hollow and empty.

SCORE: 6/10