Could ‘The Beekeeper’ be this year’s sleeper hit?

WHAT would you do if someone offered you US$841 million in exchange for one of your relatives?

Would you take the offer? If so, which one would you choose?

Well, the answer to Sophie’s choice above has nothing to do with this week’s review of “The Beekeeper”; it is not even a real question.

This is simply a smokescreen as I try the impossible — making a hard sell for Jason Statham’s latest action flick.

The movie ticks all the boxes of a typical action and Statham touch, which is characterised by a lot of fight scenes, car chases and explosions.

The plot is simple and easy to follow. The 56-year-old English actor spends a huge chunk of his screen time menacingly whispering his dialogue, all the while breaking bones and killing bad guys.

The only downside is that it has a huge John Wick influence and this is where the hard sell and smokescreen come into play.

Eloise Parker (Phylicia Rashad) is a retired school teacher and lives by the countryside of Massachusetts where she looks after her farm.

The only person she has for company is a tenant by the name of Adam Clay (Statham), who uses her land for his beekeeping hobby.

One day, Parker falls victim to a phishing scam in which she loses her entire savings and US$2 million that belonged to a charity organisation she manages. Disgraced and out of ideas, she kills herself. However, as it turns out, beekeeping is not only a hobby for Clay, but also the name of a secret organisation he worked for.

It operates outside the confines of the law and it is entrusted with safeguarding the world, which it calls the hive.

Clay then decides to come out of retirement and sets out to hunt, punish and kill all those directly or indirectly involved in scamming Parker. It turns out the phishing scandal is more intricate than initially presumed.

Derek Danforth (Josh Hutcherson) — who is the spoilt, evil and entitled son of one of the most powerful families in the United States — is at the heart of the operations.

I am tempted to be more specific, but that would ruin the film’s big twist towards the end.

Danforth then turns to his vast wealth and influence to hire mercenaries and government agents like the FBI to kill Clay before he can eliminate him.

Everything about this plot is John Wick, and frankly, I do not mind this.

Clay and the Beekeepers agency are better, more grounded and, dare I say it, more believable than “John Wick: The High Table” and suits that are bulletproof.

It goes without saying that “The Beekeeper” is going to be marked down for its heavy influence and almost identical John Wick plot, so why not lean hard into it?

Statham does what he knows best in every movie as he relies on his martial arts background to produce some awe-inspiring fight and action scenes.

He hardly talks and that is not a bad thing. Who needs to talk when you can mow through a bunch of bad guys without breaking a sweat.

Hutcherson really surprised me here as he comes off as a rather good protagonist, way better than Alfie Allen (Losef Tarasov), Riccardo Scamarcio (Santino D’Antonio) and Bill Skarsgard (Marquis Vincent) from the John Wick films.

Do not get me wrong here, I am not saying that “The Beekeeper” is a better movie than the “John Wick” series.

The revenge theme is handled a little better here. Kurt Wimmer pens a more grounded and realistic plot as Clay’s murder spree over the death of his dear friend makes a lot of sense than avenging a dog.

It also boils down to his training as a Beekeeper in which he is tasked with protecting the world from all who wish it harm.

“The Beekeeper” also gets high marks for a better supporting cast as Jeremy Irons (Wallace Westwyld), Rashad (Parker), Emmy Raver-Lampman and Bobby Naderi (Agent Verona Parker and Matt Wiley) have big roles to play in both the movie and storyline.