When you’re a beekeeper, you always have to protect the hive. On January 12, 2024, David Ayer’s “The Beekeeper” was released in theaters. The movie stars Jason Statham, who portrays Mr. Clay (The Beekeeper), a character driven to exact revenge on the people he holds responsible for the death of his caretaker.

The movie is great. It is a fun – a generic action movie. This was the best new movie I have seen all year. It is also the only movie I have seen all year. One thing that I really liked was it had a lot of John Wick connections:  the retired assassin, the loss of a loved one, and the revenge arc against a crime organization. 

One of the saddest moments in this movie, when he found his caretaker dead, was made even more heartbreaking when it was revealed that the death was suicide. However, the tragedy made me more invested in the movie and  made the revenge storyline even better. 

The movie also includes lots dry humor, such as the one liner, “you don’t mess with a Beekeeper”, given as a warning to the movie’s antagonist. Or when a bunch of SWAT guys ran into the elevator shooting up at Clay through the ceilng of the elevator, spraying (and wasting) ammo everywhere. Upon, not surprisingly, running out of ammo but certain Clay was dead, the film cuts to Clay asking the officers simply, “Are you done?” Then, he cuts the elevator cables with all the SWAT officers inside and says: “you’re done.” 

What’s more, the film was kind of refreshing to watch because it didn’t have any  overt political messages in it. It was just story focused, and – unlike many recent movies – had no hidden messages or agendas. 

Overall, I’ll give this movie a 9 out of 10. It had a good start, good middle, and good ending, and it focused on all the characters really well. It was well paced, the visuals were realistic, it balanced humor  and action well, and the dialogue was really rich. These are all key ingredients for an entertaining and successful film.