'The Beekeeper' review: Deliciously dumb action movie honey

Jason Statham stars as Adam Clay in director David Ayer's "The Beekeeper." (Amazon MGM Studios/TNS)

For a certain type of action movie fan, it’s the most wonderful time of the year: January pulp trashterpiece season. Last year, that slot was occupied by the lean, mean flying machine Plane, starring Gerard Butler; this year, it’s the off-brand John Wick ripoff The Beekeeper, starring Jason Statham and directed by David Ayer.

This profoundly silly and self-aware bit of blood-spurting nonsense is a bracing antidote to the awards season fare that crowds theatres in December, and Ayer’s overstuffed approach to filmmaking elevates Kurt Wimmer’s entertaining, but rather thin script.