The Beekeeper
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	David Ayer
Written by	Kurt Wimmer
Produced by	Bill Block Jason Statham David Ayer Chris Long Kurt Wimmer
Starring	Jason Statham Emmy Raver-Lampman Josh Hutcherson Bobby Naderi Phylicia Rashad Jeremy Irons
Cinematography	Gabriel Beristain
Edited by	Geoffrey O'Brien
Music by	David Sardy Jared Michael Fry
Production companies	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Miramax Cedar Park Entertainment Punch Palace Productions
Distributed by	Amazon MGM Studios
Release date	January 12, 2024
Running time	105 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$40 million[2]
Box office	$152.7 million[3][4]

The Beekeeper is a 2024 American action thriller film directed by David Ayer and written by Kurt Wimmer. The film stars Jason Statham, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Josh Hutcherson, Bobby Naderi, Phylicia Rashad, Jemma Redgrave and Jeremy Irons. When his good-hearted landlady commits suicide after losing her charity's funds to a phishing scam, former "Beekeeper" operative Adam Clay sets out on a brutal campaign for revenge upon those responsible.

The Beekeeper was released in the United States by Amazon MGM Studios under the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer label on January 12, 2024. The film received generally positive reviews and has grossed $152.7 million worldwide, making it the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2024.

Plot[edit]

Retired schoolteacher Eloise Parker lives by herself in Hampden, Massachusetts, but she has a tenant in her barn, Adam Clay, who lives a quiet life as a beekeeper. Adam is a retired member of a classified anti-corruption program called the Beekeepers, whose members are highly-trained. One day, Eloise falls for a phishing scam perpetrated via a phone call where she's tricked into allowing a man to access her computer remotely, and she's robbed of over $2 million, the majority of which belongs to Safe Homes Foundation, a children's charity organization whose bank account she manages. Devastated by the realization that she's been scammed so badly, Eloise shoots herself in the head.

Adam finds Eloise's body and is arrested by FBI Special Agent Verona Parker, Eloise's daughter, who accuses Adam of shooting Eloise, but then Verona learns about how Eloise was scammed. After Eloise's death is ruled a suicide, Adam is released. Verona apologizes to Adam for her accusation, and tells him that the FBI cybercrimes office has said that the scammers who victimized Eloise have been operating for two years, but the FBI hasn't been able to identify any of them. Verona vows to find the scammers, but Adam decides to hunt them down himself, and make them pay for what they did to Eloise.

Adam contacts the Beekeepers for help, and he receives an address for the scammers: United Data Group (UDG), a call center in Springfield run by Mickey Garnett. Adam scares off the employees and destroys the UDG building. Mickey informs his boss, Derek Danforth, a technology executive who runs Danforth Enterprises in Boston. Derek sends Mickey and some men to kill Adam. A violent confrontation ensues where Mickey's men destroy Adam's bee hives and honey jars, before Adam kills Mickey's men, and severs Mickey's fingers on his right hand with a bandsaw. Mickey calls Derek while stopped at a bridge, informing him that Adam is a Beekeeper. Having followed Mickey, Adam drags him off the bridge with a truck to his death, and warns Derek that he's coming after him too.

Derek informs former CIA director Wallace Westwyld, who is currently the head of security for Danforth Enterprises. Concerned, Wallace, who is not aware of Derek's scam, contacts current CIA director Janet Harward, in hopes of stopping Adam. Janet contacts the Beekeepers, and learns that Adam is retired from the organization. The Beekeepers subsequently declare neutrality after Adam kills Anisette Landress, the Beekeeper who was sent to kill him. Meanwhile, Verona and her partner, Special Agent Matt Wiley, anticipate that Adam will carry out an assault on the Nine Star United Center in Boston, which oversees all of Derek's scam call centers. After informing FBI Deputy Director Jackson Prigg that Adam is a Beekeeper, they receive all the support they request.

Wallace coordinates a group of ex-special forces personnel, led by a man named Pettis, revealing to them that the Beekeepers are a highly skilled and dangerous clandestine human intelligence organization tasked with protecting the United States, operating above and beyond governmental jurisdiction. To have a chance at stopping Adam, Wallace orders the group to secure the inside of the Nine Star Building, while the FBI places their own SWAT team around the perimeter. However, Rico Anzalone, the sleazy manager at Nine Star United, refuses to evacuate the employees, because he doesn't want to miss out on any money that the scam can bring in. Rico's refusal enables Adam to take down the FBI SWAT team without killing them, and infiltrate the building. After killing Pettis and his men, Adam proceeds to interrogate Rico by using a stapler gun until he finally gives up Derek's identity.

Verona informs FBI Deputy Director Prigg that Derek is the ringleader of the scammers, and that several U.S. government agencies use a security program made by Danforth Enterprises. Verona tells Prigg that not only will Adam attempt to kill Derek, but he may also kill Derek's mother Jessica, who is the President of the United States, the way a queen-slayer bee would kill a queen bee who produced defective male offspring. As Adam eludes capture, Wallace advises Derek to stay with Jessica, under Secret Service protection.

At Jessica's beachside mansion on the Massachusetts coast, Wallace hires a group of mercenaries led by a man named Lazarus. Lazarus previously had an encounter with a Beekeeper, and lost his leg, so he wears a prosthetic. Jessica is not aware of Derek's scam. Jessica and Derek sit in her late husband's office in the mansion with Prigg, who asks them about United Data Group. As it turns out, Derek had funded Jessica’s campaign with stolen money, and she learns about Derek's scam, and his exploitation of a CIA program during her campaign. The revelation leaves Jessica guilt-ridden, as she didn't know that the money was stolen. Jessica tells Derek that she's going to tell Adam and the entire nation the truth about Derek's activities, even if it gets her voted out of office. Verona and Wiley, plus Lazarus, find Adam outside, but Adam creates a distraction by setting off a bomb. Inside, Adam defeats Lazarus's men, and a number of Secret Service agents. Adam and Lazarus engage in a fight that ends when Adam fatally stabs Lazarus. For telling Jessica the truth, Derek fatally shoots Prigg in the chest.

As Adam approaches the door to the office, Wallace tries to distract him, but Adam breaks a couple of Wallace's fingers, and makes his way into the office. Verona and Wiley also enter, thinking that Adam plans to kill both Derek and Jessica. But it turns out that Adam has no intention of killing Jessica, because he knows that she was not aware of Derek's scam. Derek, holding a gun on Jessica, refuses to stand down, and he prepares to kill Jessica for wanting to tell the nation the truth. Before Derek can pull the trigger, Adam kills Derek with a shot to the head, saving Jessica's life.

Adam jumps through a window as the Secret Service comes to get Jessica out of the office, while she wails at the sight of Derek’s body. Verona runs to the window, and has a clear shot on Adam. But Verona doesn't pull the trigger, satisfied that justice for Eloise, and Derek's other victims, has been served. As the other agents try to find Adam, he recovers some scuba diving gear that he had left buried in a hidden area on the beach. Adam escapes into the sea, and a single bee flies overhead.