#54: Josh in "The Beekeeper" (2024)

Confession: It's quite possible I'll never forgive myself for not seeing villain Josh in all his IMAX glory last year when The Beekeeper dropped. I opted for a standard screening - the first one after work on opening day, a Thursday at my local Regal, and now I'm kicking myself for not splurging for the upgrade. Why? I love this film and Josh's performance as its antagonist. Let's talk about it!

The Beekeeper's plot is likely to tug on the heartstrings of most viewers out there with older folks in their lives they care about...especially if they have gone through similar experiences to the ones the seniors in the film went through. The movie starts with a chilling event: an older woman gets scammed via phone call out of millions of dollars (belonging to charities she supported) and takes her own life as a result. Her daughter, Verona, a cop, is devastated...and so is Adam, "The Beekeeper", who tends to bees on her property and was close to her. Both the Verona and Adam seek revenge...but go about it in different ways.

In their quest for justice, they are able to trace the scam to its origin...and it's revealed that Josh's character, Derek Danforth, is the mastermind. He's the top dog behind scam call centers who target senior citizens with funds with the sole goal of stealing every last penny. Plus - it gets juicer - Derek is the son of the US president...and he helped get her elected using her dirty money. Unfortunately for Derek, once Adam got involved...it was game over. His nickname had a dual meaning - not only did he literally keep bees, but he also protected "the hive" of humans by any means necessary. This objective led to a lot of fun action moments in this film and I have to say...it's always quite satisfying to see Jason Statham take out the bad guys...even if one of them is Josh. Yes - spoiler alert - Josh's character does die at the end when Adam shoots him just before he's about to kill his own mother (which makes Derek arguably the most "evil" character Josh had played, in my opinion).

As we know from the last two-ish months of our marathon, Josh has perfected the art of playing an "ahole" on screen (which I still find so ironic since he seems like the nicest guy "in real life"). Derek is truly the ultimate a-hole. He's selfish, arrogant, money-driven, and power-hungry. He's also a "crypto bro", which is even spelled out for us in one of my favorite scenes where he asks a party guest "if she f***s with crypto at all" (by far, one of my favorite Derek lines...along with "Hit me up on Insta").

Josh is convincingly douchey as Derek. He brings the sass, attitude, facial expressions, eye rolls that bring Derek to life and make us love to hate him. While perhaps not intentionally a "funny" film, Derek is so ridiculous (even in the way he dresses - I just might have to do a Derek cosplay one day) that you can't help but chuckle at his absurdity and what a complete tool he is. When an actor can make us "hate" a character that much...you know it's good acting! I'm gonna take a guess that Josh had just as much fun portraying Derek as I did watching him so do. I'd imagine it would be a blast to play a character so different from yourself and have permission to say off-the-rails things you wouldn't normally say or behave in a way that's so beyond your norm.

As Derek, Josh adds a layer of lightness to this film that I feel was needed since it does touch on heavier topics like suicide and the scamming of senior citizens, which are very real issues. I appreciate how Josh embraces films that can be more serious in nature as its important to raise awareness on these topics.

If you haven't seen this one yet, at the time of this post, it is included for streaming with Amazon Prime or an MGM+ membership.

We only have ONE Josh credit left to discuss...see you then!

Peace and Joshperity,

G