'Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F' review: A criminal sequel
Eddie Murphy reprises his role as Axel Foley in "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F." Credit: Netflix
THE MOVIE “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F”
WHEN | WHERE Streaming on Netflix
WHAT IT’S ABOUT In Los Angeles, defense attorney Jane Saunders (Taylour Paige) takes on the case of an accused cop killer. When private investigator Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) uncovers video evidence that the man has been framed, he calls Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy), a freewheeling Detroit cop. That’s because Jane is Axel’s estranged daughter — and she’s in danger. Soon, Axel is on a plane to L.A., where he’ll rely on old friends to help him bust a ring of drug-smuggling cops.
MY SAY Released in 1984, “Beverly Hills Cop” is the movie that turned Murphy into an international star. An action-comedy about an inner-city Detroit cop transplanted to cushy SoCal, it was the perfect vehicle for Murphy to use his street-smart charm to poke fun at white America. He’d done this shtick before, notably in Walter Hill’s “48 Hrs.” (which featured Murphy single-handedly terrorizing a bar full of rednecks), but “Beverly Hills Cop” had an upbeat, ‘80s fizz that was irresistible. It’s still a crowd-pleaser, almost family-friendly despite its R rating for language and bloodshed.
The sequels offered typically diminishing returns, something “Axel F” is well aware of. Early in the film, LAPD Detective Bobby Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) whips out a police file and reads aloud Axel’s misadventures year by year — one for every movie in the franchise, ending with 1994. “Not your finest moment,” Abbott says, a sly reference to that year’s forgettable “Beverly Hills Cop III” (directed by John Landis), which Murphy himself later called “garbage.”
Stick another incriminating page into that file. “Axel F” may not be the worst movie in the series, but it might be the laziest. Yes, all the nostalgic hallmarks of the original are here, from the familiar faces (John Ashton as L.A. cop John Taggart, Paul Reiser as his Detroit counterpart Jeffrey Friedman) to the familiar music (Harold Faltermeyer’s theme songs “The Heat is On” and “Axel F,” the latter remixed by composer Lorne Balfe into a throwaway track from Lil Nas X titled “Here We Go!”). What’s missing is that Murphy magic, and this low-energy comedy — directed by Mark Molloy in his feature debut — never finds a way to rekindle it.
Part of the problem is the screenplay by Will Beall (of “Bad Boys: Ride or Die”) and two others. It’s a bare-bones mystery plot without a single surprise, and populated by such cardboard characters as corrupt cop Cade Grant (Kevin Bacon, telegraphing his villainy from the get-go) and lowlife kingpin Chalino (Luis Guzmán). Only Gordon-Levitt’s Bobby, a scruffy young cop with soulful eyes, feels like a real person. (Bobby once dated Jane, of course, which triggers Axel’s protective instincts.)
The thin story wouldn’t matter if the movie delivered the humor it promises, but it consistently disappoints. Beverly Hills is once again portrayed as a parade of wealthy women and their lap dogs (one is called Manolo, yawn). Murphy’s Axel bluffs his way in and out of various pickles, but those scenes feel shopworn. One major letdown is Bronson Pinchot, who in the original film nearly upstaged Murphy as the flamboyant Serge, he of the espresso with a lemon twist. He and Murphy run through their old routine, but the spark isn’t there.
You’ll see glimmers of Murphy’s natural charisma, but mostly he seems to be on Autopilot. Halfway through the movie, Axel struts into a $900-a-night hotel and tries to con the clerk into a free room — then abruptly drops the act. “To hell with this,” he sighs. “I’m just too tired.”
BOTTOM LINE The heat is definitely off.
