"Like what the f*** were you doing in my mother's house?"

"I was inviting her to a jar of honey."

"A jar of honey. Who the f*** are you? Winnie the Pooh."

"I keep bees."

"The Beekeeper (2024)" is another entertaining, over-the-top film with action hero Jason Statham. This time he plays Adam Clay, a retired operative from a classified government programme, named 'Beekeepers', which even the CIA knows little more about than the mythology surrounding its existence.

"She was the only person who ever took care of me."

Clay's sweet, old landlady and caring friend, Eloise Parker (Phylicia Rashād) commits suicide after she is scammed out of her life savings and that of the charity she manages. Realising that the hive is out of balance and the queen must be replaced, he traces the culprits and then goes into terminator mode, calmly hunting them down one by one. Nobody can deter him from reaching the top of the hive.

As usual, Statham, who does his own stunts, is unbeatable, and almost all of the well-choreographed fight scenes are over in the blink of an eye. This is not surprising, as his inept adversaries are faced with a highly trained, extremely energetic master in the arts of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, Wing Chun, kickboxing, Muay Thai, Judo, and Krav Maga.

Former CIA director Wallace Westwyld (Jeremy Irons), who is now working as the frustrated security chief of Danforth Enterprises — a company which is led by Derek Danforth (Josh Hutcherson), the obnoxious coke-snorting son of US President Jessica Danforth (Jemma Redgrave) — enlists the help of his successor Janet Harward (Minnie Driver) and a team of cocky ex-special forces to eliminate Clay, but they all fail miserably. Not even Clay's replacement from the covert organisation 'Beekeepers', the assassin Anisette (Megan Le), who appears as a cartoonish character, dressed in a pink trench coat, with an M134 Minigun that fires 6,000 rounds a minute, is proficient enough to stop him. Clay serves her a special treat: a 'healthy' dose of flaming hot honey.

In the final fight, Clay seems to have met his match and is nearly defeated by an equally skilled opponent, the South African Lazarus (Taylor James), who is the feared, tattooed leader of the mercenaries, with only one handicap: he lost his right leg to another Beekeeper. After an intense exchange of fists and kicks, Clay ultimately finishes Lazarus off by stabbing and slashing him repeatedly with the leader's knife.

Eloise's conflicted daughter, FBI Agent Verona Parker (Emmy Raver-Lampman), has a chance to shoot him, but she chooses not to because she understands that Clay is right. The law has failed, and he is needed there to correct this system of injustice.

In this kind of action-packed film, you don't expect more than the minimum required self-explanatory simple dialogue accompanied by loads of cheesy one-liners, and that is precisely what you get. Besides -puns, there are also, as a bonus, some interesting apidological facts for the layman to digest.

"Goodbye, Adam Clay", are the last three words in the film that FBI Agent Parker says to Clay, before he makes his swift, shockingly uneventful escape. This bland ending comes across as a bit abrupt, leaving you with a deflated feeling that something is lacking and there should have been some sort of clear-cut resolution. Especially considering the beginning of the film with the lengthy, -related opening credits and the detailed depiction of the tense scenes between a confused Eloise and the ludicrous scammers. Did the director David Ayer, known from "Street Kings (2008)", "Fury (2014)", and "Suicide Squad (2016)", do this on purpose to make the audience want more and so set up a possible sequel?

All in all, "The Beekeeper (2024)" is an enjoyable action flick with the tempting allure of the mysterious world of the Beekeepers. However, will others get a uzz out of it too? Perhaps, and it will be even better with popcorn and a delicious honey lemon drink served by Clay.

• The Beekeeper (2024) | Official Restricted Trailer

Sidenotes

Beekeepers

"The honey bee. It has always had a special relationship with humanity, a sacred relationship. Why? No bees, no agriculture. No agriculture, no civilization."

"Our nation is not unlike a beehive with its complex systems of workers, caretakers, and even royalty. If any of the beehive's complex mechanisms are compromised, the hive collapses."

"Someone long time ago decided that a mechanism was needed to keep our nation safe. A mechanism outside the chain of command, outside the system. Its one mission is to keep the system safe."

"Beekeepers are given all resources and power to act on their own judgement. For decades, they have quietly worked to keep the hive safe."

"That is, until now. It appears that a retired beekeeper has gone off the program and is acting in what he mistakenly believes is the hive's best interest."

Queenslayers

"Some bees are queenslayers, which will rise up and kill their queen if she fails to produce the right kind of male offspring."

Adam Clay

"Mr. Clay does keep honey bees. He admires their willingness to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. Our concern is that Clay believes that Derek Danforth is the defective offspring of a queen. Thereby, Clay will strike at the heart of the problem and become a queenslayer."

Who can stop the queenslayer?

"Another beekeeper? Special Forces? FBI? SWAT? Secret Service? Mercenaries?"

"No. He is not like you. You are Tier One Operators. Former SEAL Team Six. Delta Group. You are, in other words, pussies."

"If you were in the same room, he would kill you. With enough of you, then maybe you just might, in fact, be able to kill him before he accomplishes his goal."