THE BEEKEEPER (2024)

January 11, 2024

Greetings again from the darkness. For those who take pride in their ability to keep track of body counts in movies, I can only say, best of luck with this one. Boom. Bang. Punch. Kick. Stab. Choke. Flip. Our hero, acting alone, uses every available attack to neutralize armies, SWAT teams, trained security teams, and greedy scumbags … all in the name of “protecting the hive”. OK, it’s mostly for revenge for causing the death of “the only person who took care of me.”

Director David Ayer (END OF WATCH 2012, SUICIDE SQUAD 2016) and screenwriter Kurt Wimmer (SALT, 2010) are very much at home in the action-violence genre, and adding the king of cinematic hand-to-hand combat, Jason Statham, to the mix can only mean more action and more fighting and more violence. There is no reason to critique a movie that delivers exactly what it sets out to deliver to an audience that expects exactly that.

Statham is in prime form as Adam Clay, a beekeeper on a farm owned by retired teacher Elise Parker (Phylicia Rashad, CREED). When a phishing scam drains her bank accounts, including that of the non-profit she administers, Clay reacts to the subsequent tragedy by tracking down the culprits of the scheme. Tech fraudsters are easy targets because we all despise them, and the film plays that up by exaggerating the obnoxious nature of those involved. A miscast Josh Hutcherson (THE HUNGER GAMES) plays Derek Danforth, an entitled little bleep who skateboards in the office to his next massage and wears outlandish outfits befitting a person desperate for attention. Adding to the psychological drama is FBI Agent Verona Parker (Emmy Raver-Lampman, “The Umbrella Academy”), the daughter of Elise, the woman who put Clay on his mission of reckoning.

Additional supporting roles include Bobby Naderi as Verona’s FBI partner, Jemma Redgrave as the President, a brief appearance by Minnie Driver as the FBI director (she takes three quick phone calls), and Oscar winner Jeremy Irons as Wallace Westwyld, the retired agent charged with keeping douchey Derek safe. The hook here is that beekeeper Clay is actually a retired secret agent known as “the Beekeeper”, and in one of the oddest sequences, his replacement (a wild character inspired by Prince?) brings a Gatling gun to try and end Clay once and for all. The film is silly and absurd, and right up the alley of those who embrace Statham’s stoic bulldozer of a man.

Opens in theaters on January 12, 2024

WATCH THE TRAILER

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Posted by David Ferguson

LOVE & FRIENDSHIP (2016)

May 23, 2016

love & friendship Greetings again from the darkness. Jane Austen ROCKS! Sure, that might be a slightly exaggerated description of the writer who passed away almost two hundred years ago, and is known for such subtle and nuanced work as “Sense and Sensibility” and “Emma”. But it’s difficult to argue the fact that Ms. Austen’s 2016 is off to an impressive start. First came Burr Steers’ highly creative and entertaining Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and now Whit Stillman delivers a cracking version of her (apparently) unfinished novella “Lady Susan”.

Thanks to the standout performance from Kate Beckinsale, and the manner in which words from Austen and Stillman go zipping by (sometimes honestly, sometimes not), this is one fun and briskly-paced romp … more descriptions not typically associated with the prim Ms. Austen. Ms. Beckinsale as Lady Susan Vernon flashes spunk and comedic timing that we have not previously seen from her. She fits marvelously in the dress of the late 1700’s, while packing a diabolical and manipulative nature more often displayed in contemporary settings.

The supporting cast seems to be having a marvelous time. Chloe Sevigny is Alicia, Lady Susan’s confidant and gossip buddy … and one whose husband (Stephen Fry) continually threatens to ship back to Connecticut (as if it were the coal mines or outback). Emma Greenwell is Catherine DeCourcy Vernon, adversary and sister-in-law to Lady Susan, and Mofryd Clark plays Frederica, Susan’s somewhat mousy and inconvenient daughter.

Though the women are standouts here, the men hold their own. Xavier Samuel is Reginald DeCourcy, the somewhat naïve and susceptible-to-advances-from-Susan young man, and Tom Bennett manages to steal most every scene as the quite silly and funny (and wealthy) Sir James Martin. Adding their own special touches are James Fleet and Jemma Redgrave as Sir Reginald DeCourcy and Lady DeCourcy, respectively; and Jenn Murray as Lord Manwaring … one of three suitors to Lady Susan.

This spoof/parody will strike a chord for anyone accustomed to the uptight nature of most period pieces, as well as the importance of status, decorum and the corresponding insecurities (a weakness the cunning Lady Susan will most certainly seize upon). Mr. Stillman (Damsels in Distress, The Last Days of Disco) is an immensely talented writer, and certainly a welcome complement Ms. Austen’s posthumously published work.  It’s a deliciously funny and intricate story that features such quips of gold as “Facts are horrible things.” Welcome to the zany verbal barrages of Lady Susan, Whit Stillman and Jane Austen. Yep … zany and Jane Austen in the same sentence.  I told you she ROCKS!

watch the trailer:

 

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Posted by David Ferguson