This 30 year-old sequel needs to Stir It Up a bit more.
As I examined all three “Beverly Hills Cop” movies, here is my take on them. The disapproval of Axel Foley’s methods gets exhausting, but Eddie Murphy’s brilliant comedy performance is able to thrive on them. The first movie was original, the second film had its moments (and he ordered a Coke with no ice like I do), and the third movie was as bad as everyone and even Murphy himself suggested.
30 years since that trilogy went out with a whimper, we have the long-awaited sequel “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,” which has Murphy in the right place at the right time, but lacks the kind of 80s edge. It has talented actors (half of the them reuniting and half of them entering the franchise), but it also has to succumb to the cliches that make police movies entertaining, more or less.
As the film begins, Axel travels from Detroit to Beverly Hills, once again, but to help his estranged defense attorney daughter Jane Saunders (Taylour Paige) out of danger. She’s defending a young man who is accused of murdering a cop, who turns out to be dirty, but she also is threatened by those who want her to withdraw from the case.
She constantly tries to push him away, but with his old friend Lt. Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) also in danger and a conspiracy bringing part of the city down, how can he? And plus, he needs to try to reconnect with Jane again. You know how the game is. Father-daughter issues.
Besides Reinhold back in the sequel, we also have John Ashton back as his retired partner John Taggart, Paul Reiser as Axel’s former partner-turned-chief of police in Detroit, and Bronson Pinchot as Serge himself. And newcomers also include Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Axel’s new partner and Jane’s ex-boyfriend Bobby Abbott, and Kevin Bacon as BHPD Captain Cade Grant.
In terms of Eddie Murphy sequels, so far in the 2020s, we were also given “Coming 2 America,” which continued Prince Akeem’s story with style and attitude. I was one of the few critics to enjoy that sequel for that it was. Murphy was also able to go back to his roots in “Dolemite is My Name,” and even though “You People” was a crappy movie, he was still the freshest element there, as he went for a deadpan approach. In “Axel F,” he still applies the same charms as displayed before, and his character is given better material than what the third movie from 1994 presented. So, it’s clear that he’s still able to entertain us in the new decade.
We also get some likable supporting work from Paige and Gordon-Levitt, as well as Reinhold, Ashton, and Pinchot reprising their roles with consistency. And there are some good laughs, a hot soundtrack (with Bob Seger’s “Shakedown” and Pointer Sisters’ “Neutron Dance” reminding us of the good old days), and some fun action sequences. So, “Axel F” could be an ideal sequel that cares about the franchise.
But the problem with the screenplay (written by Will Beall, Tom Gormican, and Kevin Etten) is that it doesn’t add much originality in it, and has us guessing on its most predictable plot points. Such as one of the cops being dirty (I’d rather not say who for your sake) or how the relationship between Axel and Jane has to be sour and then sweet. And when Axel plays his tricks on people, they don’t really compare to his bananas in the tailpipe prank in the first movie.
Nostalgia trips can be fun, and Axel, Billy, and John reprising their gimmicks in the 2020s has more energy than even Laura Dern, Sam Neill, and Jeff Goldblum reuniting in “Jurassic World: Dominion.” But the clichés keep breaking down this sequel like how that car broke down thanks to those bananas.
In Select Theaters and Streaming on Netflix.