The Beekeeper attempts to copy the John Wick formula to the point of plagiarism.
The setup is virtually the same. Statham, playing himself as usual, is retired and extremely dangerous ex-assassin, member of a secret group called "Beekeepers". He get pulled out of retirement over a seemingly minor incident, and the conflict escalates.
A woman he sells honey to (played by the mom from the Cosby Show) commits suicide after having her savings stolen by a scammer company.
He takes revenge for her, but oh no, the company belongs to the president's no-good son (similar to the Russian Mob boss's son in the John Wick original).
He fights his way to the top through many neon-lit setpieces until he reaches the final boss. The end.
However, unlike John Wick, there is none of the fascinating world building, none of the flair, none of the great music editing, much of the acting is awful, and so the whole thing comes apart at the seams. Tonally, the film never hits the mark. Scenes variate between overacted and ridiculous to boring, slow paced and TV series like. Every time the narrative switches to a female FBI agent, the air is sucked out of the movie, and energy comes to a grinding halt.
The use of music is awful. It alternates between Batman knock off cello and contrabass strings, which don't fit at all, to house and electronic in scenes where it doesn't fit either. It worked in John Wick, because it was woven into the story. John Wick was either in a night club, or the music was played on the Assassin's radio station. Here it just comes out of nowhere.
There are a few good kills. The car off the drawbridge early on is excellent. The final boss fight was decent, but not over the top enough to be memorable.
Overall, this is a poorly made film that you will forget the moment you finish it. It's barely watchable, but I deducted points for plagiarism.
The setup is virtually the same. Statham, playing himself as usual, is retired and extremely dangerous ex-assassin, member of a secret group called "Beekeepers". He get pulled out of retirement over a seemingly minor incident, and the conflict escalates.
A woman he sells honey to (played by the mom from the Cosby Show) commits suicide after having her savings stolen by a scammer company.
He takes revenge for her, but oh no, the company belongs to the president's no-good son (similar to the Russian Mob boss's son in the John Wick original).
He fights his way to the top through many neon-lit setpieces until he reaches the final boss. The end.
However, unlike John Wick, there is none of the fascinating world building, none of the flair, none of the great music editing, much of the acting is awful, and so the whole thing comes apart at the seams. Tonally, the film never hits the mark. Scenes variate between overacted and ridiculous to boring, slow paced and TV series like. Every time the narrative switches to a female FBI agent, the air is sucked out of the movie, and energy comes to a grinding halt.
The use of music is awful. It alternates between Batman knock off cello and contrabass strings, which don't fit at all, to house and electronic in scenes where it doesn't fit either. It worked in John Wick, because it was woven into the story. John Wick was either in a night club, or the music was played on the Assassin's radio station. Here it just comes out of nowhere.
There are a few good kills. The car off the drawbridge early on is excellent. The final boss fight was decent, but not over the top enough to be memorable.
Overall, this is a poorly made film that you will forget the moment you finish it. It's barely watchable, but I deducted points for plagiarism.