A Navy expert praises the hand-to-hand combat in action movie franchises like Fast & Furious and The Expendables, Statham is an established leading action star, having taken on many physically demanding roles in the genre. With a background in martial arts, the actor has a reputation for performing many of his own stunts and choreographing fight sequences.

After being discovered by Guy Ritchie for the director's 1998 debut, Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, Statham went on to star in many action movies. Statham's best movies from the past decade include The Meg, The Beekeeper, Wrath of Man, and Spy. His slate is also primarily occupied by action thriller titles, including Levon's Trade, an untitled Fast X sequel, and Mutiny.

A Former Navy SEAL Assesses Jason Statham's Fight Sequence In The Beekeeper For Realism

The Veteran Praises Jason Statham's Work Despite Giving The Beekeeper A Low Rating

Directed by David Ayer and written by Kurt Wimmer, The Beekeeper stars Statham as Adam Clay, a former agent of a secret government agency called the Beekeepers. Released on January 12, 2024, the thriller sees Statham's skilled combatant on a mission of vengeance after his friend fell victim to a group of cybercriminals. The movie grossed over $162 million at the box office and has received a 92% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Sitting down with Insider, DJ Shipley, who was a Navy SEAL for 17 years, broke down the fight sequences in The Beekeeper. He highlighted the importance of using the "environmental," but pointed out that CQB is "supposed to be formed in a team." Talking about the classic Hollywood fight scene where the opponent has a knife and the protagonist doesn't, Shipley's advice was "turn around and run as fast as humanly possible." While the veteran was impressed by Statham's fighting sequences, he didn't believe that someone would survive it in real life. Check out his comments below:

I don't think they did a bad job moving. It's quiet. They look very slow. They look very controlled. We call it 360/720, so it's everything you can see, up, down, and all the way around. So as you're looking into the hallway, you have to be scanning for everything, especially now...

I will say that Jason's fighting sequences, his choreography is second to none. There's some subtle tweaks to make it more hyper-realistic if you did all that in real life. Would you survive it? No. So, I'd give it two out of 10.

Our Take On The Beekeeper's Fight Sequences

The Beekeeper Gets A On Fighting Inaccuracies

Jason Statham is one of the greatest action actors, and despite the hand-on-hand combat sequences not being very accurate, The Beekeeper's action scenes still hold up. In fact, in a movie that's about real-life issues, such as scamming schemes, the fighting sequences serve to add flavor and tension to boost the viewing experience as opposed to depicting real-life situations.

This also doesn't mean that The Beekeeper failed in real-world connections and accuracy. Ayer consulted a retired FBI agent on the accuracy of the story they're telling. Statham also spent a lot of time learning about beehives, in addition to performing most of his own stunts, all of which made the movie more immersive and entertaining.

Source: Insider/YouTube