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With the brutal and unflinching action flick The Beekeeper, action star Jason Statham virtually reignited his career overnight with a film that was a savage concoction of vengeance and punishment. Director David Ayer (Fury, Suicide Squad) delivered one of the best action films of 2024 and now a sequel is still coming with The Night Comes for Us action auteur Timo Tjahjanto taking over the reins from Ayer which certainly bodes well for the follow up as Tjahjanto is one action filmmaker that constantly seems to know what action fanatics want.
Tjahjanto is currently seeing success with another sequel he took over in the form of Nobody 2 with Bob Odenkirk and while that movie hit last Friday, the critics and viewers are both saying that it is a definite step up from the original.
With Statham and The Beekeeper 2 now in the sites for the acclaimed director, Tjahjanto looks to deliver The Stath in a form reminiscent of The Punisher. The iconic and infamous Marvel Comics gun toting vigilante has always been a favorite of the filmmaker and if he can’t direct a true Punisher film right now, then he says that he’s going to make this sequel damn near close to it.
In an interview with ScreenRant in support of his Nobody 2, Timo Tjahjanto stated that he chose to take over The Beekeeper 2 from Ayer because Statham’s character of Adam Clay reminded him of Frank Castle.
“I’m definitely drawn to the Beekeeper series just because when I watched it, I always felt that, ‘Wow, this is essentially Statham playing one of my favorite characters in the Marvel universe, which is The Punisher,’” Tjahjanto. “If I can’t make The Punisher film, if the Gods of film aren’t allowing me to do a Punisher film yet, then I’ll turn Adam Clay into my own version of The Punisher.”
Tjahjanto went on to say that he feels that Jason Statham’s acting is keen to the vigilante and that it was a no-brainer to tackle the sequel to do it justice.
“I think Statham has that quality in him. He has that very stoic Frank Castle-esque quality to him. And I love that Adam Clay is definitely a guy who is quite colorful in his choice of violence. He gets really, really creative with his violence.”
Tjahjanto closed out the interview by teasing what fans can expect from the villains that Clay will be taking on this time around. “Another thing that draws me is definitely the escalation of just how big the villains are in this film. So, you can wait for that.”
Personally, I already felt the essence of Frank in Statham’s Adam Clay in the first one as he only punished the guilty while only incapacitating the innocent that got in his way. I still find it hard to believe that a lot of fans out there were disappointed with Ayer’s second film with The Stath in A Working Man as that film was just as unforgiving as The Beekeeper. To each their own I guess as I found A Working Man quintessential Statham none the less and until the sequel to The Beekeeper comes out, that movie makes for on e hell of a double feature with the original.
The Beekeeper 2 is currently in development at Amazon MGM Studios but there has been no official release date tagged to the sequel yet but Lock N Load and stay tuned!
In the meantime, check out Statham doing Punisher things in a violent and satisfying action clip from The Beekeeper!
