“The Beekeeper 2” Poster
Timo Tjahjanto (The Shadow Strays, The Night Comes for Us) – of the “Mo Brothers” directing duo (Killers, Headshot, Macabre) – pairs up with Jason Statham (The Meg, Redemption, The Expendables) for The Beekeeper 2, which hits theaters in January from Amazon MGM Studios.
The original’s writer, Kurt Wimmer (Ultraviolet) – director and writer of the criminally underrated 2002 cult classic, Equilibrium – is back on board for the sequel, with additional input from Umair Aleem (Kate).
The Beekeeper 2 also stars Jeremy Irons (Die Hard with a Vengeance), Pom Klementieff (Guardians of the Galaxy), Emmy Raver Lampman (The Umbrella Academy), Jemma Redgrave (Doctor Who), Bobby Naderi (Under the Shadow), Yara Shahidi (Black-ish) and Adam Copeland (Vikings). Laurent Buson (Shelter, Mutiny) and Godefroy Ryckewaert (The Crow remake) are handling the fight choreography.
The original, directed by David Ayer (End of Watch), followed a retired clandestine human intelligence operative (Statham) who sets out for revenge after his kind-hearted landlady becomes the victim of a phishing scam that steals millions of dollars from a charity she runs (via Deadline).
🔥 Footnote: The Beekeeper was a box office hit, grossing approximately $162.6 million worldwide ($66.2 million domestically and $96.4 million internationally) against a reported $40 million production budget. The film opened with $16.6 million in North America and maintained strong staying power, helping establish the original action thriller as a successful property and paving the way for the sequel you’re reading about.
The Beekeeper 2 hits theaters on January 15th. Watch the New Trailer below:
I’ll watch the hell out of this! Ayer, Wimmer and Statham? Yes, please. Last time Ayer and Wimmer worked together, we got the underrated piece of pulp that is “Street Kings”.
I gotta wait till I get home to watch this trailer on a big TV!
This is indeed a winning combination. Since Wimmer and Statham have worked together more than once now, Statham needs to get him more work!
People just don’t let him write. Even though Expendables 4 had good action, it was a mistake to pair Wimmer up with 2 other writers. I also suspect that Wimmer’s original screenplay of Law Abiding Citizen was much different from the final film considering that the special features on the DVD don’t mention him and make it look like the director and stars re-wrote it.
Yep.. I’m watching the Hell out of this! and with Beef Jerky instead of popcorn.
This looks damn good on trailer, let us all hope that the movie itself would live up to this praise too.
I’ve wished Jason Statham would return as The Transporter in a new movie that redeems the franchise, but if he’s going to make movies like The Beekeeper, this is probably the better direction to go in. This looks very satisfying, and the bad guys seem similar to the ones in The Roundup series, so watching them get punished will be special.
Does he use bees as a weapon to take down his enemies? If not I feel the poster is misleading!
That does look like fun, at least in a guilty pleasure kind of way, I will definitely watch it. Does anyone else think the John Wick franchise was apparently influential?
Yes John Wick also influenced Greta Gerwig to shoot Barbie with ultra colourful color grading as a homage to John Wicks action scenes. Also Chris Nolan pays homage to John Wick’s world building by shooting Oppenheimer in 70mm IMAX and setting it in the past cos John Wick movies also invented the concept of flashbacks and how you can make a film in 2023 but set it in 2017 for example
That’s funny, but in all seriousness, Beekeeper is in line with Ayer and Statham’s previous output considering how it’s more gritty and less “slick and polished.” As far as modern action films taking influence from the John Wick franchise, I think it’s more of a case where they want to one-up those films in their own style.
I just watched The Beekeeper, and it was satisfying. Very much the feel good escapism I go for.
The fight choreographer is Jeremy Marinas who has a pretty impressive resume as a stunt person, and has closely worked with JJ Perry, Chad Stahelski, and David Lietch. I’m sure he’s next as stunt person turned director in the future. He must have a good rapport with Jason Statham since he was brought in to choreograph his fight scene for the highly demanded Fast X.
It is always fun to watch Jason Statham plow through bad guys, but it’s more fun when he has a worthy opponent. It was a step in the right direction to have Taylor James show up as a South African mercenary, and they have a pretty brutal fight scene in a narrow hallway. At the same time, I just wish there was more of it.
Jason Statham may not be a spring chicken anymore, but I hope he can keep doing movies like this for as long as he can.
Exhausting, humourless, and entirely derivative.
You guys know a lot more of the details and players involved in contemporary action cinema, and
I respect that. I’m just a movie lover. But lately I have found the new breed of action films are just largely angry, mean and uninspired. “Joyless Bloodshed”, indeed. Sure, there are lots of excellent films in the genre still coming out but I swear the John Wick franchise has infected the waters.
Bramhall’s article did a good job of shining light on this epidemic:
https://cityonfire.com/john-wick-the-dawn-of-the-joyless-bloodshed-genre-martial-arts-cinema-action/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Usually The Shadow knows, but I’m disagreeing with the pulp hero today. Jason Statham films usually have an abundance of enthusiasm, and that’s part of where I get my joy from them.
I really loved the Staths earlier movies even the critically panned ones. The Transporter, Crank, Death Race, The Mechanic remake and especially Safe are S-tier B-movies. I even enjoyed homefront with sleazebag James Franco and for some reason Winona Ryder as a drug addcict. His acension to the A-list was cemented with Spy, still probably his peak.
After this is a downhill slide with the Fast movies , the terrible Meg movies, crappy teamups with old mate Guy Ritchie whos also on a downward trajectory and then we get a bunch of low budget nonsense where all the movies blur into one another.
I get having a supermodel wife means he felt he couldn’t stetch out creatively but around 2015 he could have been more bold in the roles he took and then we wouldnt have to suffer more David Ayer collabs who still hasnt recovered from the Suicide Squad ordeal.
I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree, Andrew.
I immensely prefer the days where the scripts and films he took on leveraged his charm and comic timing alongside his action chops. That being said, it’s definitely cool that you’re still getting joy from them.
Let’s hope there is some refreshment in “Jason Statham Stole My Bike”, but I still have my doubts.
Wait, am I the only one wondering why nobody’s talking about the need for more strong female leads in action movies? The genre is still so dominated by men, especially white men. Like, can we please get more badass women leading the way?
It’s fine to disagree. It’s also fine to ask why Beekeeper is humorless and derivative. It’s a mostly serious film about revenge, but I got the humor from the variety of ways that the bad guys were killed throughout the movie and it movies at a quick pace. The sequel seems to be following a similar path.
Shelter was mostly a film without humor, but it felt appropriate with the mood and motif the film makers were going for. Mutiny kind of went back and forth with being mostly serious and having that “camp.”
Jason Statham seems to be going for a Clint Eastwood type acting filmography where several of his films share a similar tone. Whenever Eastwood wasn’t playing Angel Eyes or Callahan, he still played tough guys while occasionally changing it up. It’s not that dissimilar from what Statham does.
I usually hate it when an action film has no humor, but sometimes if it’s done right, it works. Just as long as the tone isn’t sour and miserable throughout.