As Jason Statham’s The Beekeeper 2 swarms towards production, it’s safe to assume that former Navy SEAL DJ Shipley won’t be purchasing a ticket anytime soon. Shipley recently sat down with Insider to discuss the accuracy and authenticity of various Close-Quarters Battles (CQB), closely examining a ferocious hand-to-hand fight between Statham’s character, Adam Clay, and several enemies inside the Nine-Star building… And he wasn’t impressed.
Why Former Navy SEAL DJ Shipley Criticizes ‘The Beekeeper’s CQB
After closely watching Adam Clay storm the Star Nine building hallway and waylay the first villain with his bare hands, Shipley was as diplomatic as he could be while criticizing the scene’s lack of realism. The first thing Shipley notices as being off is Clay’s solo effort. According to Shipley:
“CQB is supposed to be formed in a team. Solo CQB is about the worst thing you could ever get into because there’s too many angles you’re covering. Every step forward, you’re opening yourself up to a new angle that you don’t have a teammate to cover.”
Of course, teaming Statham with fellow action stars disrupts the formula and can only be taken so far, such as in The Expendables. So, for the sake of appeasing Statham fans and protecting what makes his movies so successful, Clay battles one bad guy after another by himself.
Related
Everything We Know About Jason Statham’s ‘The Beekeeper 2’
Jason Statham fans will be thrilled to learn that a highly-buzzed about sequel to his action thriller hit The Beekeeper 2 is currently in the works.
Shipley also took umbrage with the way Statham’s lack of readiness during the scene, adding:
“I wouldn’t keep my hands around my side. I’d at least keep them up, and I’m scanning left and right as I’m moving down that hallway. There’s no reason for me to look straight when I have opening doors. If I have my hands up, a little more thoughtful, a little more controlled. And now when he (the villain) comes, I can immediately respond to him.”
While Shipley comes around to credit Statham’s work in the movie, he judges The Beekeeper‘s CQB based on how likely Clay or anyone else would survive in a similar scenario.
What Rating Does DJ Shipley Give ‘The Beekeeper’s CQB Scene?
As Shipley continues to judge the accuracy of Clay’s CQB in The Beekeeper, he transitions to the importance of “environmentals,” which are any physical objects naturally found in any given environment. As Shipley puts it:
“Environmentals are everything that’s around you. It could be the sharp corner of a table. It could be broken glass (as Adam uses in the scene). That’s a good environmental. It’s using everything around you as a weapon because I don’t have a traditional fixed weapon in my hand. I have to create one right now.”
Although Shipley praises Clay’s environmental awareness during the fight, he does not believe what transpires next. Adam’s next assailant pulls out a large knife, and with nothing to fight back with, Clay subdues the enemy with his bare hands. Shipley calls this dishonest, stating:
“Yeah. If you find yourself in a scenario where someone has a knife, and you don’t have any kind of tool, turn around and run as fast as humanly possible.”
But running away is the last thing Clay does. Instead, he overpowers the enemy and uses the knife on him. Shipley is most impressed with Statham at that moment, adding:
“He does a great job of controlling the blade, dragging it across the glass, trying to break his (the enemy’s) grip. Those little microseconds where he traps the blade, he stops, he waits for a beat, then he goes again.”
‘The Beekeeper’ Gets a 2/10
Despite heaping praise, Shipley adds that Clay should have kept going and used every “environmental” in sight to incapacitate the enemy. From there, Shipley assesses a team-led gun battle, which strays from the CQB protocols. Although Shippley lauds how the tactical team worked together quietly and efficiently, he is still a nonbeliever regarding the survival rates of someone like Clay.
“I will say that Jason’s fight sequencing, his choreography, is second to none. There’s some subtle tweaks to make it more hyperrealistic. [But] if you did all that in real life, would you survive it? No. So, I’d give that a 2 out of 10.”
A 2/10 rating is a pretty harsh indictment of The Beekeeper‘s CQB scenes. Fortunately for Statham fans, viewers care less about the tactical accuracy of his movies and more about how many visceral thrills are delivered as he beats up one villain after another. Whether The Beekeeper 2 will make Clay’s CQB more realistic, the Statham action formula will continue as long as his movies make money.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
