‘The Beekeeper’ Review: Jason Statham Grimaces His Way to the Top in Bonkers B-Movie

variety.com:

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic “The Beekeeper” is the best kind of bad movie — which is to say, it’s the sort that puts entertainment ahead of pretentiousness, embracing the laughter sure to accompany such an unapologetically stupid, ultra-violent premise.

Starring Jason Statham in what feels like a parody of Jason Statham movies, this conspiracy-fueled action showcase tortures its central metaphor until it can only be seen as a joke, featuring the “Transporter” star as ruthless, retired government assassin-turned-benevolent beekeeper Adam Clay, who’s pushed back into berserker mode after a phishing attack targets the kindly old woman from whom he rents a barn.

If you don’t get a hearty belly laugh out of watching Statham scowl his way through the opening montage, in which Clay is shown collecting honey and tending his hives on a bucolic country estate while landlady Eloise (Phylicia Rashad) falls for a blatantly fishy online scam, then “The Beekeeper” is probably not for you.

Saddled with a ludicrous (but never less than hilarious) script, director David Ayer puts fun ahead of plausibility, treating the Clay character as the ultimate enforcer anytime America’s (imperfect) system of checks and balances needs adjustment.