Beverly Hill Cops: Axel F is now streaming on Netflix and I just got around to finishing it. If I were to sum it up in one word, that word would be: Safe.
The cast hasn’t changed from the previous three movies, you have Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Paul Reiser, and Bronson Pinchot. Joining them are Joseph Gorden-Levitt, Taylor Paige, and Kevin Bacon. The ‘and Kevin Bacon’ annoyed me, I will discuss why later.
Mark Molloy is the director and one of those ‘new to directing and hasn’t been crushed by Hollywood yet’ types. Danilo Bach and Daniel Petie Jr are back as writers, both having penned the first three movies. Will Beall is the other credited writer.
The Story
The official plot from the IMDb is:
Axel Foley returns to Beverly Hills after his daughter’s life’s threatened. Includes old pals John Taggart and Billy Rosewood working to uncover a conspiracy.
But honestly, it’s just Beverly Hill Cops, with a couple of updates, a hint at the wokeness of the world, and that Axel has a daughter. This new movie is set 30 years after Beverly Hills Cop 3.
Axel (Murphy) is back in Detroit and being a pain in the ass to his boss, Deputy Chief Jeffery Friedman (Reiser). Axel is at a hockey game with a fellow cop, as Axel knows a robbery is going to go down at the game. This ends with Axel and fellow cop chasing down the robbers with a snowplough. Just like in real life.
The snowplough causes millions of dollars worth of damage and Friedman decides to retire. Pretty sure, that if Axel had been behaving like this for the past 30 years, Friedman would be dead due to stress and Axel would be in jail. Anyway, Friedman says Axel should catch up with his estranged daughter. Man, I hope they become close by the end of the movie.
Rosewood (Reinhold) calls and says that Axel’s daughter is in danger, which is great timing. Foley heads to Beverly Hills and tries to reconnect with his daughter, Jane Saunders (Paige), who’s an attorney trying to get a kid out of jail.
What now follows is pretty much the original movie, with the same jokes, the same action pieces and everyone looking old. Gordon-Levitt is in there as well.
The main story is half decent, but honestly, it doesn’t really matter as it’s just about Eddie (trying) to be funny. This is hit and miss. Some jokes land, and some fall as flat as Wile E. Coyote trying out the latest Acme product.
And Kevin Bacon
This is, but isn’t, a spoiler. The opening credits say ‘And Kevin Bacon’. According to the laws of cinema this means that Bacon is the bad guy. Low and behold, he is the bad guy. This isn’t really a spoiler as it is pretty obvious he’s the bad guy from the moment you first meet him.
This took the mystery out of the entire movie. In most movies, they at least try and keep the bad guy hidden for a while to create a sense of intrigue. Not here. It’s literally Kevin Bacon.
The overall story is about police corruption and the cartel… and that’s about it. The rest of it is about Axel being himself and talking his way in and out of places. I get the impression that in America if you wanted to walk into a secret military base, all you’d need is a clipboard and a sharp wit .
How Does It Compare To The Originals?
As we know, Beverly Hill Cop was great fun and we loved Axel. The second one was more of the same and we still loved Axel. The third one was an embarrassing cash grab. It was the one that cast George Lucas as “Disappointed Man”.
Beverly Hill Cop: Axel F is just another cash grab. The same kind that Hollywood is trying to produce every other day at the moment. It’s sprinkled with ‘memberberries and the same old jokes by the same old people. With all of these movies, it’s all about trying to recreate the original lightning in the bottle but, as we know, it never works.
I will say that Murphy looks good. The guy is 63 and honestly doesn’t look like he’s aged a day in his life. If I were to guess, I would think he bathes in the blood of virgins, like the rest of the Hollywood elite, allegedly. John Ashton on the other hand, definitely looks his age.
Overall
The movie is very safe. They could have had an older Axel having to deal with current-year woke issues, but they skirt around this and are never brave enough to actually see it through.
At one point I thought they were going to go to a strip club, and I was actually surprised, thinking this could be a throwback to 80s movies where a visit to a strip club seemed to be a legal requirement.
But no, it was a Karaoke Bar for the cartel. It was funny seeing Luis Guzman singing, though. I do love that guy.
There is more focus on Saunders than Foley. She’s a chip off the old block, but of course at times she’s better than her dad.
I can’t say I was a massive fan of the original movies, so I didn’t really care that much about Axel in this. I don’t know if you would see this new movie as ‘flogging a dead horse’ or great to see Murphy back in action. For me, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F was a meager 1 out of 5 stars. The extra half a star is mostly for the Shooter McGavin cameo.
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is streaming on Netflix.
