YMMV / The Beekeeper

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Some speculate that the Beekeepers are actually secretly supporting Clay throughout the film. Despite him being retired, they immediately help him locate the phishing centre without question. When they are told to dispatch an agent against him, they send Anisette, a woman Westwyld openly says should have been put out to pasture years ago. Sure enough, she's no match for Clay, and he uses her finger to gain access to Beekeeper weapons and intelligence, while the Beekeepers immediately step out of the affair afterwards. Viewed through that light, the Beekeepers got rid of a dangerous liability, provided Clay with the resources he needed, and gained a perfect excuse to not send any more agents after him, all without anyone becoming suspicious.
• And You Thought It Would Fail: Many were skeptical about the film due to David Ayer's latest string of badly reviewed films, along with the film being called another imitator of John Wick or cannon fodder for streaming services. However, the critical score for the film received a surprisingly respectable 71% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.8/10 on IMDb (the best scores for an Ayer film since Fury), with many fans praising the film for being an enjoyable action film along with its unique worldbuilding. It proceeded to dominate the box office against Mean Girls (2024) and earn a successful $104 million.
• Anti-Climax Boss: Anisette, the current active Beekeeper is built up as quite a threat shortly before she is dispatched to kill Clay, so one would be forgiven for thinking that she could become a major obstacle in his mission. In fact, she doesn’t even survive her first encounter with her predecessor despite having the element of surprise and a truck-mounted Mini-gun.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • Many a reviewer stated that this was cathartic for victims of scamming.
  • For a specific example, given how Garnett was a Smug Snake directly responsible for driving Eloise to suicide, seeing Clay intimidate him by kicking the ass of his security detail, blowing up his building to send a message, and finally drag him off a bridge to his watery grave is nothing short of tremendously satisfying. Bonus parts to Clay for reducing him to a quivering mess after cutting off his fingers with a bandsaw.
• Evil Is Cool: The brash, loud-mouthed, and gaudily-dressed mercenary captain Lazarus has gotten respect from a good amount of viewers. While an Elite Mook, he's also an Agent Peacock and Handicapped Badass who manages to give Clay a fight on near-equal terms during the climax. Not only does he do this despite being shot through the cheek by him earlier, he even manages to stab him, almost ensuring a victory had Clay not thought to exploit his weakness.
• Love to Hate: Derek. He's a slimy Spoiled Brat, but he's just so over-the-top and snarky about it that it's hard not to be entertained by him, even while rooting for his well-deserved comeuppance. Josh Hutcherson's hammy, Slimeball performance also helps.
• Moral Event Horizon: If scamming and destroying people’s lives didn’t do it for Derek, what finally sends him over the edge is when he takes his own mother hostage and uses her as a Human Shield.
• Narm Charm:
  • The scammers have extravagant call centers with colorful lighting and giant flashy screens that serve no real purpose. It's ridiculous, but it makes them look indulgent and callous, like stealing people's money is a game to them, and it's all the more satisfying when Clay destroys them.
  • Danforth Enterprise's offices are a parody-level depiction of new-age silicon valley tech startups with meditation sounding bowls and a sushi bar.
• Nightmare Fuel: Some of Clay's kills are very brutal. One highlight as seen in the trailer? Using honey to set fire to Anisette.
• One-Scene Wonder: Anisette, the current active Ax-Crazy Beekeeper whose main weapon is a minigun.
• Spiritual Successor:
  • This movie has many elements from John Wick that it has been compared to.
    • The main character is a normal animal-loving man living a peaceful life but is actually a trained assassin who was considered the deadliest of his kind by those he once worked for but has since went into retirement.
    • However, his peace was disturbed by a Spoiled Brat whose callous actions led to the death of someone he cared greatly about (In this case, it is his neighbor instead of his dog that died), forcing him to deal personally with those who had no idea who they were messing with.
    • The Spoiled Brat thought he was untouchable due to his connections only for his father figure to spell out what an absolutely horrible mistake he made in provoking the wrong person. Even though he does not like what he did, the father figure does whatever he can to protect his ward by hiring the best assassins and mercenaries available to put a stop to the man.
    • The Spoiled Brat decides to run away to the one place he thought the man would not dare to attack him which would be his mother the President of the United States. This is also what Santino D'Antonio also tried to do by hiding in the Continental when his attempts to kill John Wick has failed. Both men believe their pursuer would not dare to kill them due to the repercussions of what would happen if he did, only for both men to not care and kill them anyway.
    • Someone had the opportunity to kill them for their actions but chose to let them get away out of respect for them. Verona Parker was going to shoot Adam Clay after he killed the president's son but she chose not to. Winston Scott gave John Wick an hour's headstart to get away after he broke the rules of the Continental.
  • A number of comments have point out the film feels like a spiritual adaptation of Hitman, saying it's a better adaptation of the games than the official films. In addition to Statham physically resembling Agent 47 (a role he actually lost out on previously), the most common points of comparison are:
    • Clay's refusal to kill innocents.
    • Clay's Combat Pragmatist tendencies making creative use of things in the environment, to kill his marks in elaborate ways rather than simply shooting them most of the time.
    • The Beekeper organization resembling the ICA to some extent, with their targets generally being the causes of various social ills.
    • The film's climax plays out a lot like a Hitman mission, with Clay sneaking into a heavily guarded party in disguise, placing explosives and traps around the area before getting caught, then making a quick escape at sea once the job is done and the heat is on. The final shot of him jumping into the water looks a lot like the animations that play at the end of the game's missions.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Eloise Parker's suicide when she realizes she's been scammed is sad.
  • The President's reaction when her son is shot. He might have been holding a gun to her head but he was still her son, screaming out his name in agony as she is led away.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Some viewers have expressed disappointment that Anisette, Adam's replacement in the Beekeepers didn't have a larger role in the plot. She was hyped up as a major threat and could have been a credible recurring antagonist whose pursuit of Adam might have led to serious thrills and tension; instead, she gets killed off in their first and only fight.

---