‘Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F’ (review)

Beverly Hills Cop (1984) is a perfect film: an inverse of the “country bumpkin coming to the big city” trope that goes back to Roman comedy, Eddie Murphy played Axel Foley as tough, clever, and with a wit that was too quick for everyone else around him.

He was the working class guy sticking it to rich Euro-trash and snobby hotel desk managers alike: the ultimate common man’s revenge.

The film got two sequels in its day. Beverly Hills Cop 2 (1987), a slick and stylish Tony Scott movie that’s missing the energy of the original but has solid action and great production values and Beverly Hills Cop 3 (1994) a lifeless slog where no one seems quite sure what movie they’re making.

All this is basically prologue to a simple conclusion: Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F uses every trick in the legacy sequel playbook, but they work here because it’s a super focused film with a main character everyone loves and never got to see get his victory lap.

For once, we really did just want a sequel that was a retread of the original, and when that’s what they give us it hits the spot like an omelet from your favorite diner, rather than feeling like reheated leftovers.

Murphy is back as the eponymous Axel Foley who is still an absolute menace to his superiors in Detroit (The force now led by his old colleague Jeffrey Friedman (Paul Reiser). He’s drawn back to the 90210 when his estranged daughter Jane (Taylour Page) and his old friend Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) are caught up in a case with a task force of crooked cops led by Cade Grant (Kevin Bacon).

Anyone who’s seen a movie in the last twenty years knows the deal: Foley has to crack the case and make up for lost time with his daughter while riding on as many callbacks to the first film as two hours will legally allow.

Thankfully, the jokes work– Murphy feels super motivated and even though Foley is a far less prickly character than he used to be he is still a wise ass and a master of the bluff leading to all sorts of great gags. In particular, the first hour is just an immaculate runback of the first film with a breathless (and legitimately funny) chase through Detroit in a garbage truck and a great moment where Foley walks in on hoods trashing a friend’s office and just plays along so effectively that they’re not sure whether he was supposed to be there or not.

Unfortunately that level of momentum can’t be sustained and this is a film that kind of loses focus in the middle act. Shockingly it’s also the one time a Bronson Pinochet appearance as Serge doesn’t work in a Beverly Hills Cop film– he’s even great in the third film but here he feels like he’s here as an obligation more than an addition.

Also, there’s an overreliance on slowed down, chopped up versions of the classic Harold Faltermeyer theme and after some really striking location work in Detroit the film settles down and looks like every other film once it gets to LA. There’s flaws here and I wouldn’t look at this as an incredible showcase for first time director Mark Molloy.

All that is a pile of quibbles though– the jokes land, and the action works and that’s all you can ask from a movie called Beverly Hills Cop. A fitting final bow for one of the 80’s most beloved cinematic heroes.

Recommended.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is currently streaming on Netflix