geezer cinema: the beekeeper (david ayer, 2024)

Patton Oswalt once wrote the following:

Jason Statham has never been in a great movie.

He’s also never been in a boring one.

Statham’s imdb.com profile, collectively, is a promise to you, the weary filmgoer. It’s a promise that says, “I promise that you will not FOR ONE SECOND be bored during one of my movies. You won’t learn shit about the human condition, or feel a collective connection with the brotherhood of man. But if you give me $10, I will fuck an explosion while a Slayer song plays”.

I'm with Patton on this one. Well, I've never been a fan of Snatch (or most Guy Ritchie films, for that matter). But talking about quality, Jason Statham movies have a fairly narrow range. There's the dumb ones that are good time fillers, and there's the slightly better ones that are slightly better time fillers. The Beekeeper is the latter. David Ayer and writer Kurt Wimmer don't waste a lot of time ... the movie comes in at a reasonably economical 105 minutes, and something is happening in most of those minutes. They spend a few minutes setting the situation, show why Statham's character is pissed and desirous of revenge, and then spends the rest of the movie letter us enjoy that revenge. Even in his mid-50s, Statham retains believability with the physical skills he brings to the screen, and if his acting is largely restricted to looking angry, it fits parts like "The Beekeeper".

For some reason, Jason Statham is one of the kings of Geezer Cinema. The Beekeeper is the fifth Statham movie to appear under the Geezer category ... 4 of the 5 were picked by my wife, but I'm responsible for Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels.

[Letterboxd list of Geezer Cinema movies]