THE BEEKEEPER : Tuesday 23rd January 2024.

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'THE BEEKEEPER' at my local multiplex earlier this week, and this American action thriller film is Co-Produced and Directed by David Ayer, whose prior feature film making credits take in the likes of his Directing debut in 2005 with 'Harsh Times' then 'Street Kings' in 2008, 'End of Watch' in 2012, 'Fury' in 2014, 'Suicide Squad' in 2016 and 'Bright' in 2017. This film was released in the US and here in Australia from the 11th January, has garnered generally positive critical reviews, and has so far grossed US$79M. 

The film opens up in rural Massachusetts and the rather grand looking country home of Eloise Parker (Phylicia Rashad), a retired schoolteacher who lives by herself, but she has a tenant in her barn, a man named Adam Clay (Jason Statham, who also Co-Produces here) who leads a quiet life as a beekeeper and who harvests the honey religiously. On this particular day, Clay is returning from another barn with a rogue hive he has bagged, and stops for a brief conversation with Eloise - thanking her for looking after him. 

She invites him in for dinner that evening. Later that same day, Eloise falls victim to a phishing scam and is robbed of over US$2M which belongs to a children's charity organisation she manages, and all of her life savings from several bank accounts. Devastated, she takes her own life with a pistol.

After Clay finds her body, he is immediately arrested by FBI agent Verona Parker (Emmy Raver-Lampman), Eloise’s daughter. After Eloise's death is ruled a suicide, Clay is released. Verona later tells Clay that the group that robbed Eloise has been on the FBI's radar for a while, but is almost impossible to track down, and even harder to get an indictment. She is pessimistic that they will ever be brought to justice even if they are found. Wanting justice for Eloise, Clay re-establishes contact with the Beekeepers, a mystery organisation, to find the scammers responsible.

Clay is later provided with an address for the scammers: a call centre known as UDG, run by Mickey Garnett (David Witts). Clay goes into UDG's building armed with two jerry cans of petrol, and after easily fending off the employees and taking down a handful of Garnett's men, blows up the building. Garnett informs his boss, technology executive Derek Danforth (Josh Hutcherson). Danforth orders Garnett to track down and kill Clay. 

Garnett and his thugs by chance locate Clay at Eloise's place and follow him to his barn, but not before shooting up his six beehives. There, Clay quickly kills them all except for Garnett, whose four fingers of his right hand he cuts off with a band saw before releasing him. Garnett in a panic and nursing his injured hand, calls Danforth while stopped at a bridge, informing him that Clay is just a beekeeper. Clay, having followed Garnett, kills him while Danforth listens over the phone, and then warns Danforth that he is coming after him.

Danforth talks with Wallace Westwyld (Jeremy Irons) about Clay. Wallace, the former head of the CIA, is currently running security for Danforth Enterprises at the request of Derek's mother, Jessica (Jemma Redgrave), and does everything in his power to keep Danforth out of trouble, out of prison and out of the spotlight. Concerned, Wallace contacts the Director Howard of the CIA (Minnie Driver) in the hope of stopping Clay. The Director contacts the Beekeepers, and learns that Clay has since retired from the organisation. However, a Beekeeper is sent to kill Clay, who catches up with him while he is refuelling his car at a petrol station. Following a vicious fight, Clay burns the agent to death, causing the petrol station to explode in the process. In the aftermath, the Beekeepers inform Director Howard who in turn informs Westwyld that they will remain neutral and not pursue Clay.

In the meantime, Verona and her partner, Matt Wiley (Bobby Naderi), have been closely following the trail of destruction left behind at the crime scenes. They determine that Clay’s next target must be the Nine Points Center in Boston, which is the central hub for all of Danforth's call centres around the world, including UDG. After informing FBI Deputy Director Prigg (Don Gilet) that Clay is a Beekeeper, they receive full funding without hesitation.

Wallace meanwhile coordinates a group of ex-special forces personnel, telling them that the Beekeepers are a clandestine organisation tasked with keeping the USA safe and that they operate above and beyond governmental jurisdiction. To have any chance at stopping Clay, he orders the group to secure the inside of the Nine Points Building, while the FBI places their own SWAT team around the perimeter. Despite the special forces’ leader's insistence that the employees should be removed from the building first, Danforth tells them to keep working. This allows Clay to quickly defeat the FBI SWAT team in close quarter hand to hand combat, and infiltrate the building, taking down the manager, who reveals to Clay and the FBI, after having multiple staples plugged into his hands and forehead, that Derek Danforth is his boss.

Verona advises FBI Deputy Director Prigg that Derek Danforth actually runs both companies and that both are owned by Danforth Enterprises, which is used by several US government agencies, including their own. Verona also brings up the point that not only will Clay attempt to kill Derek, but he may also kill Jessica, who just so happens to be the President of the USA, using the Queenslayer analogy from the science of beekeeping. Prigg gives them a blank cheque to take whatever steps and use all necessary resources to prevent Clay from finalising his mission, and then signs off to inform the President. 

Wallace, upset that Clay has again evaded being taken out, suggests that Danforth stay with his mother for the time being for his own protection and taking advantage of the Secret Service presence at her beachside residence over the coming weekend. Wallace hires a group of mercenaries, who with Danforth, all congregate at the President's beachside retreat for the weekend where she is hosting a lavish party. Close by to the entrance to the President’s residence, Clay climbs aboard the underside of a truck, switching places with a Secret Service agent in order to blend in at the party. Once inside the house, Verona notices Clay, who by this time has dispensed with his Secret Service gear and is more appropriately dressed, but as he is about to be shot at close range by one of Wallace's hired mercenaries, he activates several bombs he planted on Secret Service trucks as a distraction in order to track down Danforth in hiding in the house.

Inside the house, Prigg tells Jessica about her son's multi-billion dollar scam operations. Danforth reminds his mother that during her Presidential campaign, that she lagged behind in the polls in fifteen out of twenty key counties and needed funding to keep her campaign afloat. He used a CIA programme to locate wealthy financial targets and scam them out of their money. Jessica decides that if and when Clay approaches, she will tell him and the world the truth about her sons use of the programme. Enraged, Danforth kills Prigg and takes his mother hostage. Clay in the meantime fights his way to the President's office taking out anyone who stands in his way. He eventually reaches her office by blowing the door open, and is quickly followed by Verona and the rest of the FBI agents. Verona tries to discourage Clay from killing Jessica and Danforth, who attempts to kill his mother, but Clay shoots his in the head first killing him outright. Clay then jumps out of a nearby window. Verona having a clear shot of Clay as he heads across the garden, but she decides not to shoot him. They give a parting nod to each other and he flees the scene and swims away into the ocean with the aid of the scuba gear he had buried in the sand on the beach close by. 

With 'The Beekeeper' Jason Statham's Adam Clay does what he absolutely does best and that is wipe out the bad guys in all manner of inventive and creative ways, and ratcheting the body count up to the nth degree. David Ayer knows how to lay on the action spectacle, and does so with aplomb, but in the end the script is hardly going to win any literary awards, and the plot in run-o-the-mill and leave your brain at the door type stuff. That said, if you get past all the bee puns, including several references to 'protecting the hive', seeing Statham kick butt relentlessly and violently backed up by a strong supporting cast, and liked the premise of 'John Wick', 'Taken' and 'The Kingsmen' franchises, then this movie is for you, and you won't be disappointed. 

'The Beekeeper' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

BLACKLIGHT : Tuesday 15th February 2022.

I saw the M Rated 'BLACKLIGHT' earlier this week, and this American action film (shot in Melbourne and Canberra, Australia), is Directed Co-Written for the screen and Co-Produced by Mark Williams in only his third film making outing following 2016's 'A Definitely Maybe' and 2020's 'Honest Thief'. The film was released Stateside and here in Australia last week, cost US$43M to produce, has thus far recouped just over US$5M and has garnered generally unfavourable Reviews.

The film opens up with Travis Block (Liam Neeson) speeding down some country road, continuously adjusting and checking his rear view mirror like he is being followed closely behind by another vehicle in hot pursuit. He pulls up at some rural trailer park where two armed Policemen and forced into a corner by an angry gun toting mob, all wanting to reach the woman inside the caravan behind them. Block sneaks around the back and gives three knocks on the window, at which point a woman appears brandishing a pistol and fearful for her life. After a brief exchange of words he explains that he's there to extract her and disappears to set up an explosive distraction for the angry mob. He does so, the place erupts in ball of flame, and Block successfully extracts the woman, who it turns out is an undercover FBI Agent. 

We then cut to a rally in Washington DC at which activist and Congressional candidate Sofia Flores (Melanie Jarnson) is speaking to a sizeable gathered crowd about women's rights and racial equality. That night, after stepping out of her Uber ride home, she is run over by another vehicle, and killed instantly in an apparent hit and run. Next up we see Block talking to the Director of the FBI, and long term friend Gabriel Robinson (Aidan Quinn) about his recent extraction exercise and how the women will come good again given time and treatment. It seems that Block's off the books work with Robinson is to extract deep-cover agents when their cover is blown or when they’ve spent too much time in the darkness to be able to find their own way out. Another such agent is Dusty Crane (Taylor John Smith) whom Block has a certain attachment to, but who has taken to self-medicating with pills and alcohol in an attempt to ease his guilty conscience about his former misdeeds all in the line of duty. Crane, is arrested by the Police after beating four officers up in the street, because they found drugs, alcohol and a hand gun on the passenger seat of his car. Block gets him out of the slammer no questions asked.

In a quieter moment we see Block the grandfather to young Natalie (Gabriella Sengos) and his single mum and daughter Amanda (Claire van der Boom) at his granddaughters birthday party. Looking on as Natalie opens up her presents Amanda chides her father that he must have already checked the perimeter of the building and located all the possible points of entry and exit for fear of an attack. A lesson that he has already instilled in young Natalie, much to her mothers chagrin. Block retorts that he just wants his family to be safe, at all times. Soon afterwards Block says to Robinson that he wants to spend more time with his family and be a good grandfather to Natalie, and is thinking of quitting his role as an FBI 'fixer'. Robinson in no uncertain terms says no way Jose, and basically closes the book on that discussion. 

Meanwhile, Crane has reached out to a Washington DC news website reporter Mira Jones (Emmy Raver-Lampton) and will only speak with her about some earth shattering information he has to expose the truth behind a spate of secret FBI sanctioned killings of American citizens. Robinson instructs Block to intercept Crane before he is able to speak to the reporter Jones. Block also meets with Jones and tells her not to talk to Crane, and if he contacts her, she is to contact him straight away. 

Block trails Jones to a rendezvous with Crane at a Museum, where the pair meet. Crane spies Block and makes a dash for it. Block catches up with him, the pair get into a fist fight in which Crane gains the upper hand and quickly climbs a locked wrought iron fence. With both on either side of the fence now, Block asks Crane why. Crane stops, turns and just as he is about to explain his actions is gunned down and killed by two men - the same two men who were at the scene of Sofia Flores hit and run at which she was killed. 

Block asks Jones, who witnessed the whole thing, to tell him what Crane had said to her. She spoke of an 'Operation Unity' which is headed up by Robinson it seems with the two gunmen (who are also FBI agents) who killed Flores and now Crane in Robinson's pocket. Over a whisky in a bar, Block and Jones share their stories and any other details Crane imparted to the reporter. Block visits Robinson at his home, demanding to know about Operation Unity, which Robinson flatly refuses to divulge. Block quits on the spot. After this, Amanda and Natalie have mysteriously vanished, with Amanda unexpectedly quitting her job at the hospital, and Natalie being removed from her pre-school without notice. No one it seems has any idea where they have gone, or the reasons for their sudden disappearance.  

In the meantime, Jones Editor boss Drew Hawthorne (Tim Draxl) has also wound up dead after releasing a largely un-researched press article on their news website about Operation Unity, much to Jones disgust. Hawthorne's death was again at the hands of Robinson's henchmen. Block meanwhile, is beside himself with worry, and after exploring every avenue of investigation to locate Amanda and Natalie, goes to Robinson's home at night to confront him. Robinson is on the phone to his two henchmen at the time, who have just scoped out Block's apartment looking for him. He tells them to get over to his home with back-up immediately. Block takes Robinson up to his safe and orders him to open it and play the hard drive upon which are countless files on all of his agents and Operation Unity. Robinson exits his home as four agents arrive heavily armed and enter the house. A gun fight ensues in which the house is shot to pieces, but Block gains the upper hand and dispenses with the four agents using his very particular set of skills, but not before sustaining a gun shot to the leg. 

Later that evening Jones visits Block who is holed up in a motel, and nurses his injured leg. The next morning Jones Assistant Helen Davidson (Yael Stone) visits and together the three survey the hard drive. There they see a recording of Crane being interviewed by Robinson, at which point he expresses his love for Flores, and says that they had been romantically involved for about a year before her untimely death. Jones comments that Cranes love for Flores was written all over his face. The next day, Block commandeers Robinson's vehicle, and as Robinson gets in, he is surprised to see Block behind the wheel. Block pressures Robinson in coming clean about Operation Unity, to which the Director again replies with a staunch no way, but Block can be especially convincing when he needs to be. A brief shoot out follows after the vehicle comes to a halt in which Robinson sustains a non-life threatening gun shot wound. Block tells him to reveal the whereabouts of his family, and that he will come clean to the media about Operation Unity. 

In the closing scenes it is revealed that Robinson was being held in custody with a court hearing pending, that Jones was being praised from on high about her published news report exposing Robinson and Operation Unity, and Block drives up to the safe house to retrieve Amanda and Natalie.

'Blacklight' is a pedestrian; by the numbers; been there, seen that, done it too countless times before actioner that Liam Neeson has spent the last fifteen years perfecting to the point where he can quite literally phone his performance in. This film could easily be construed as 'Taken 4' as his family are 'taken' from right under his nose, and no amount of car chases, gun play, fisticuffs, or explosions can mask that fact in this wooden thriller that is short on dialogue, excitement or a plot that really adds up to very little. At approaching seventy years of age, it was reported that after 'Blacklight' Neeson was going to give up the action tough guy genre as he was done with beating up guys less than half his age, but judging by his IMDb profile, we can still expect him to be kicking butt in the upcoming 'Memory', 'Retribution' and 'Marlowe' already completed or in post-production, with two other films currently in pre-production. Well I guess if you possess a very particular set of skills, you may as well put them to good use!

'Blacklight' merits two claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-