Jason Statham Kills With Honey In The Beekeeper’s Wild Trailer

By Jason Collins | Updated

The Beekeeper

When he’s not saving the world from giant men-eating sharks, Jason Statham does what he does best: he’s beating up bad guys while enjoying his favorite hobby. We previously saw him as The Mechanic, but a recently revealed trailer shows us that one of the best action-movie actors has become The Beekeeper.

Directed by David Ayer, The Beekeeper features Jason Statham as a former operative of a secret group called Beekeepers. After one of his neighbors takes her own life after being scammed out of thousands of pounds by a ruthless underground organization, Statham’s character is forced to return to the field for a revenge mission.

During that mission, he punches and shoots his way through countless enemies, uncovers a national conspiracy in the process, and sets out to take down a whole bunch of corrupted figures.

Led by Jason Statham, the rest of the cast includes Emmy Raver-Lampman, Josh Hutcherson, Bobby Naderi, Minnie Driver, Phylicia Rashad, and Jeremy Irons. The trailer doesn’t show much apart from the basic premise of The Beekeeper, coupled with some fighting, shooting, and explosions.

That isn’t all that surprising, considering that the movie has been a pretty mysterious action movie project at MGM, with some of the earliest reports describing the project as an action movie steeped in the mythology of beekeeping.

The Beekeeper attests to the fact that Jason Statham remains one of the most sought-after action stars in Hollywood

As to what exactly beekeeping has to do with the entire premise of the film, well, we can only make assumptions from what we already know from the trailer.

The Beekeeper

We know that Jason Statham’s character is the eponymous beekeeper, and the trailer’s dialogue sequences apparently have him outed as (perhaps) a former operative of a clandestine group or agency. Plus, he apparently is a big fan of bees since we see him sending to them at the beginning of the trailer.

The poster reads “protect the hive,” so it’s quite possible that this former identity and occupation as an operative has some greater meaning in The Beekeeper, apart from granting him the skills to topple an army.

The Beekeeper attests to the fact that Jason Statham remains one of the most sought-after action stars in Hollywood, considering that he just reprised his role of Jonas Taylor for The Meg 2: The Trench. Not only that, but he’s also in charge of the Expend4bles, the fourth installment in the Expendables franchise, in which we see him teaming up with Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Megan Fox, Tony Jaa, and more.

Unfortunately, the fourth Expendables isn’t faring so well with the audiences, suggesting that the franchise has run out of steam. The release managed to garner less than $41 million thus far—a box office disaster—as opposed to a $100 million budget, leaving the future of the series in doubt.

The Beekeeper’s Theatrical Release

Hopefully, the upcoming The Beekeeper fares better than The Expendables 4. As things currently are, the title has entered post-production, and according to its IMDb page, we can expect the movie to be released on January 12, 2024.

Jason Statham fans who are impatiently waiting for The Beekeeper can pass the time by watching any of his numerous releases. Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels seems like a good movie to start with.