Jason Statham-led action flick a violently satisfying good time

You know what I had to look up after watching “The Beekeeper”? Whether honey is flammable. Turns out the answer is oddly complicated, but you know what isn’t? “The Beekeeper” — and what a sweetly uncomplicated tale of richly deserved vengeance it is. 

The titular beekeeper, Adam Clay (Jason Statham), is the quiet sort, happy with a simple existence on his property, with his honey and bees. He rents the space from Eloise (Phylicia Rashad), a friendly retired schoolteacher who, according to Adam, is the only person who’s ever treated the man with kindness. So, when Eloise falls victim to a phishing scam and loses every dollar to her name (including money she was managing for a charity) and commits suicide in the aftermath, it’s simple for Adam: The scammers messed with his hive. Now he’s going to mess with the scammers. 

His character, turns out, is more than just a beekeeper. Well, he’s actually two kinds of beekeeper: the one that collects honey, and the one that’s been trained by the U.S. government to basically be a one-man killing machine that works outside the normal chain of command to solve problems — and uses said honey as a weapon. And once he’s set his focus on you, well … it’s probably best to get your affairs in order.

“The Beekeeper,” directed by David Ayer (“Suicide Squad”) from a script by Kurt Wimmer (“Expend4bles”), is far more interested in delivering kinetic action sequences rather than plausibility — and it doesn’t pretend to be otherwise. The plot is thin, direct and patently absurd: From the rural countryside to the highest levels of power in the country, every unrepentant scammer involved deserves Adam’s righteous, bone-crunching fury — and he’s going to deliver it no matter the impossibility of it all. (The FBI agents trying to stymie Adam’s rampage, played by Emmy Raver-Lampman and Bobby Naderi, are so many steps behind they almost feel superfluous, even if they crack a few clever jokes along the way.)

But who needs watches a Statham film for plot? We want the punches, and Statham comes out swinging with aplomb. The fight sequences — and there are plenty of them — are thrilling, whether it’s one-on-one against another Beekeeper or Adam against a small army. Adam’s use of the environments around him — from a barn to a call center to a palatial estate — is honestly inspiring in its ingenuity.

And every punch is so, so justified. These villains are vile to the point of parody, and you just want to see their teeth knocked out for the financial ruin they’re inflicting on innocent people. (Josh Hutcherson’s character, the epitome of callous privilege, is particularly enraging, and watching Adam close in on him is deeply satisfying.)

In the end, “The Beekeeper” is a violent romp about as deep as an actual jar of honey, but the vengeance Statham’s Beekeeper doles out is so deliciously sweet and deserved, it feels greedy to want more. You don’t have to take my word for it: Just ask those call center scumbags. Oh, wait — you can’t. Adam got to them first.

Three “Why do you have a mini gun?!” stars out of five.