One man’s brutal campaign for vengeance takes on national stakes after he is revealed to be a former operative of a powerful and clandestine organization known as “Beekeepers.”

High-concept franchises might be all the rage now, but there is still comfort to be found in old-school action movies — namely, the thrill of seeing heroes beat up villains and the assurance that the good guys win at the end of the day. Jason Statham is one of the steadfast purveyors of this time-tested brand of escapism.

In The Beekeeper, Statham plays Adam Clay, who is, yes, an actual beekeeper. He lives on a farm in rural Massachusetts, and one day, his kindly neighbour, Eloise Parker (Phylicia Rashad), falls victim to a phishing scam and loses all her life savings. Adam seeks to avenge her, taking on spoiled tech mogul Derek Danforth (Josh Hutcherson), who runs a network of scam call centres and data mining operations.