The Beekeeper and Night Swim
Cinemas are embroiled in a never ending battle to get people away from their televisions. $5 Tuesdays anyone? Like many I have all the streaming services and lately I spend too much time jumping between them trying to figure out what to watch. Let’s be honest, streaming services have a lot of junk on them and I am over wasting my time on mediocrity, whether it’s twenty minutes or two hours. Here are two flicks that came out in theatres and were sadly forgotten.
The Beekeeper targets our emotions unlike any other Jason Statham vehicle I have ever seen. To be clear I loved Jason Statham in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and The Transporter…and then the love affair started to fade. I began to find all of his movies formulaic and that Statham, as an actor, didn’t have the charisma to sustain my attention. That is until The Beekeeper, which appears to be a typical revenge flick. What makes this movie work however is the catalyst for the subsequent violence which is relatable and full of merit. Without giving anything away, I thoroughly enjoyed watching Statham standing up for a segment of society that is suffering from rampant abuse. His desire for reprisal had my support and I cherished every kick and punch he delivered. Unlike equivalent John Wick films, the fighting in The Beekeeper feels purposeful and gritty while showcasing Statham’s superior physicality. Hopefully, Statham will continue on this trajectory with his future choices because he finally won me over. A fun movie with an unexpected storyline.
Night Swim strives to do for the swimming pool what Jaws did for the ocean. The idea behind this movie is perfect, a killer pool that preys upon all who enter it wearing elastane or polyester. Cue Wyatt Russell (Kurt Russell’s son) and Kerry Condon and you have a fresh set of players to round out the cast. There is a lot to like about this movie. Russell tugs at our heartstrings as a baseball player whose career has been cut short. Story wise the idea of having an inanimate object as the villain is very refreshing. The major flaw of this film however is the lack of a backstory. In 2002’s The Ring we witnessed a videocassette that had the ability to kill the viewer. We came to understand how the evil was created and then the story unraveled logically. I wanted to see a similar rhythm in Night Swim. While an explanation is revealed for this demonic pool it feels rushed and half baked. A slower buildup of tension and more exposition would have made Night Swim a scarier cult classic. Either way it has me rethinking my evening swim.
There is something magical about going to the cinema and sitting in a theatre of like minded people who laugh and scream at the same parts as you. It’s a community that you can’t join from your couch. Sometimes going to the cinema is a risk because the movie might suck and sometimes it can be a revelation. Either way you will find me there each weekend reviewing the newest that Hollywood has to offer.