Movie Review ~ Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F

Over the past week, I’ve enjoyed a nostalgic journey with Eddie Murphy’s iconic Detroit cop, Axel Foley.  The neon lights, synth beats, and the forgotten sights of Rodeo Drive in 1984’s Beverly Hills Cop were more than charming time capsules. They were a trip down memory lane, evoking a sense of sentimentality. The perfect blend of street-smart charm and razor-sharp wit earned it an Oscar nod for Best Screenplay. The film was a blockbuster hit, raking in over $300 million, the most ever for an R-rated movie, a title it held for nineteen years until 2003’s The Matrix Reloaded surpassed it. 

While not as polished, the 1987 summer sequel gave Murphy story credit and kept the momentum going, snagging its own Academy Award nomination for Bob Seger’s “Shakedown.”  Making a whopping $276 million globally, it was the second highest-grossing film of the year, behind Fatal Attraction.  Though a near retread of the original and seen as a vanity project for Murphy, it had Top Gun director Tony Scott at the helm, which gave it a propulsive edge.  I’m unsure what to say about the 1994 third entry, directed by John Landis.  A justified box office flop, Murphy wasn’t invested in the badly made misfire, derailing any further plans for Axel Foley to return.

Fans yearned for a proper send-off for their favorite characters that were done dirty in that third film.  After years of negotiations and near-miss series attempts, Murphy returns to the role after three decades in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel 4 with renewed energy.  His lively performance feels like what he brought to 2021’s Coming 2 America, a surprisingly successful comedic comeback for the Oscar-nominated star.  Once the star of seven consecutive number-one hits, Murphy’s hit streak bottomed out and never truly recovered.  However, he appears to have found a nice balance between what interests him and what keeps his fans happy.

The first three films were produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures, but Netflix has strangely sent Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F straight to their streaming service.  Released in time for the Fourth of July holiday, I can see the rationale; however, the movie has been made on such a professional level that it’s a pity audiences who remember turning out in droves to see one or all of the preceding Axel outings didn’t have the opportunity to experience it again in a theater.

The new entry, written by Will Beall, Tom Gormican, and Kevin Etten, sees our favorite police lieutenant heading back to Beverly Hills to protect his estranged daughter (Taylour Paige, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), a defense attorney whose latest case has put a target on her back.  There’s little time for reunions with old pals John Taggart (John Ashton) and Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) because as soon as Axel gets into town, he attracts the attention of a corrupt police captain (Kevin Bacon, Flatliners, slick and smarmy) caught up in a conspiracy. 

Teaming up with Jane’s ex-boyfriend, Detective Bobby Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Looper), Axel attempts to work on mending fences with his daughter, even as they are being pursued by vicious criminals working behind the shield of the law.  When the crimes become more personal and threaten the family and friends he values more than he realizes, all bets are off, and Axel brings his trademark Detroit style of policing to the streets of Beverly Hills. 

Murphy’s reprisal of Axel Foley recaptures that magnetic charisma that made him a star four decades ago.  With each film (even the missteps of BHCIII), Murphy has taken strides in adding depth to the character, allowing him to mature as the years and the job begin to wear on him.  It’s been thirty years since we last tagged along with Foley, and in that time, he’s been married, divorced, and has a daughter who doesn’t feel like she knows him.  Murphy (Candy Cane Lane) can nail the quick-fire quips with no problem, but he’s a good enough actor to be open to exploring the complicated relationship between Foley and his daughter.

Film Independent Spirit Award winner Paige is a standout addition to the cast, holding her own against Murphy’s often larger-than-life presence and bringing a fresh dynamic to the familiar faces.  The father-daughter tension in the script is well-played by both actors, who let their wit and humor crackle with wild but grounded intelligence.  Reinhold and Ashton (thankfully back after skipping the last one) have the opportunity to prove why they worked so well together in the first two films, and even Bronson Pinchot pops up for a brief cameo as the heavily accented (and newly blonde!) Serge.  Gordon-Levitt is the only one to underwhelm, lacking the chemistry to stand alongside Murphy.  A talented actor, when sharing a scene with Paige and Murphy, he too often feels like the third wheel or the one member of a trio that doesn’t quite harmonize with the others. 

Looking and sounding like a big-budget theatrical release, it could have made a few bucks for Netflix at the summer box office if it had been released to cinemas.  The landscape in theaters now is crowded with less than impressive releases, leaving this film to stand out as an entertaining ride that fans, old and new, would appreciate.  Action sequences are impressively staged with kinetic energy (a helicopter pursuit is great fun), and for once, with Eduard Grau’s (Passing) cinematography, Detroit doesn’t look like a garbage can in relation to Beverly Hills. 

Composer Lorne Balfe (Argylle) earned special praise in my book for his score, which wisely weaves in classic themes from earlier films among mixes of fresh tracks.  When those original Harold Faltermeyer synth beats come in, your heart will be transported back to the ’80s, while Balfe’s arrangement of the piece keeps your mind firmly rooted in the present.   Several songs from the first two films are repeated, looped in among special orchestrations from the composer.

If whispers of future installments prove true, count me among those ready to head back out West for Axel Foley’s next case.  For me, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F wasn’t just a trip to a fan service convention but a reinvigoration of a franchise that spectacularly flatlined three decades earlier.  In a world of cookie-cutter action flicks with forgettable stars, there’s nothing quite like what Murphy brings to the table.  Righting the wrongs of the last entry, it lays the groundwork for Murphy and co. to return as needed…and let’s hope it doesn’t take another thirty years for the heat to be back on.