Eddie Murphy Is Older, Deeper, and Still Funny in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F: Review

The post Eddie Murphy Is Older, Deeper, and Still Funny in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F: Review appeared first on Consequence .

The Pitch : Thirty years since his last West Coast adventure, Detective Axel Foley ( Eddie Murphy ) is still, well, Detective Axel Foley. While his contemporaries rose up the ranks and now flirt with retirement, Foley just can’t get enough of the streets. To paraphrase another film, for Foley, the action is the juice.

While celebrating his latest chaotic romp through Detroit to catch the bad guys, Foley gets a call from Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) with not-so-good news: Someone tried to kill Foley’s estranged daughter ( Taylour Paige ), a Beverly Hills defense attorney, in the midst of her working a trial with potentially negative implications for the Beverly Hills Police Department.

Foley catches the first flight out of Detroit and while Jane is fine, it’s Rosewood who now finds himself on the wrong end of a gun. Foley teams with his reluctant daughter, a few old faces, and even a couple of new ones, to save his friend and uncover the nefarious behavior rooted in the Beverly Hills PD.

The Heat Is On : Calling the road to Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F an arduous one feels like an understatement — after 30 years in development, the fourth movie in the franchise that made Eddie Murphy one of the biggest celebrities in the world arrives just in time for the Fourth of July. It’s the latest joint from producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who, after pulling the biggest rabbit ever out of his hat with Top Gun: Maverick , tries resurrecting another parachute pants-era film series, with our older hero grappling with a modern world.

For the most part, Bruckheimer succeeds. Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F works not only because Murphy is engaged, but because everyone around him understands these movies sing when he and his ensemble play off each other. And, most surprisingly, the story interrogates Foley as a character, bringing us back to the depth shown in the ‘84 original.

Considering the Netflix release, Murphy, the writers, and director Mark Molloy (making his feature directorial debut) could’ve simply played the hits: put Axel in tough situations, let him talk his way out of them, shoot the bad guys, and create something dripping in nostalgia. But like Top Gun: Maverick , this movie has something to say about its main character and our world.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (Netflix)

Don’t get it twisted: this is still an action-comedy from start to finish (when the bullets fly — and they most certainly do— the visceral results might jar audiences not accustomed to the violence associated with ‘80s action movies). And it’s still Eddie Murphy doing what Eddie Murphy still does better than most anyone alive, even if all the jokes don’t land with the same oomph.

But it’s through Foley’s relationship with his daughter Jane and the flick’s bad guy that scratches beneath the surface, even if only a bit. Why is Axel still running the streets at his age? Why is the relationship with his adult daughter strained? Why does he keep giving so much to a job that takes so much from him while offering very little in return? And for a series that usually makes rich businessmen the villains, what does it say about our current climate when the person with the maniacal laugh is nestled inside of the police department? That Foley as an outsider spots the corruption while those in-house either can’t or won’t see it is a tried and true Beverly Hills Cop trope. But considering the context, this one strikes a different chord.

“Did He Take You to a Strip Club Yet?” : Thankfully, the movie inverts nostalgia rather than succumbing to it. One scene finds Foley so emotionally spent from a conversation with his daughter that he admits he has no energy to con his way into a free or discounted fancy hotel suite. And when his motormouth antics don’t work, Jane or Detective Bobby Abbott ( Joseph Gordon-Levitt ) assist while never undercutting Foley.

As for his old partners? John Taggart (John Ashton) doesn’t move like he once did, so he’s used sparingly but smartly in action scenes while getting more than a few dramatic moments with Foley that move the story, and their relationship, forward. Bronson Pinchot comes through like a hurricane as Surge, but stays long enough to revive the chemistry he and Murphy always showed together on-screen. And, sounding like a very broken record, his appearance is germane to the plot.

The heart of the film still lies with Foley and Jane. Murphy and Paige banter and interact like a real father and daughter, with looks conveying years’ worth of information. The relationship tests the Detroit cop in ways other films in the franchise haven’t, or maybe didn’t need to at the time: It puts the “reluctant partner” trope through a different lens when the reason for said reluctance isn’t simply working styles; Jane’s legitimate issues with her father make her the perfect foil for a guy who usually charms everyone he meets. Even a third-act development that might usually elicit a couple of eyerolls makes sense in answering not only the biggest question at the core of their familial conflict, but the same one Jefferey Friedman (Paul Raiser) asks his longtime friend during the first act.

With all that weight hanging over so many of these relationships, it’s a miracle that even Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Abbott gets his time to shine: His narrative weaves into the overall story rather seamlessly, and he even gets in a subtle Beverly Hills Cop III diss. Axel F drops the ball a bit regarding completing Abbott’s arc, as it throws several key points at the audience that it never resolves. But those are the only loose ends in a script that tied up everything else rather neatly.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (Netflix)

The Verdict: Hot on the heels of Bad Boys: Ride or Die comes another Bruckheimer action movie that finds the perfect balance between action and comedy, while earning its R rating. Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is another magic trick that shows it takes the right alchemy to make something flourish, even if it takes years of experiments to determine the right combination.

Mark Malloy’s film doesn’t just play the hits or even remix them; it creates new music that converses with the old while never losing sight of what made the original tunes fan favorites. And it does so without juxtaposing the ‘80s with now, or passing the baton to a younger generation. It simply takes one of Eddie Murphy’s most beloved characters, puts him in a brand new situation, and uses Father Time to chip away ever so slightly at his facade.

Someone tells Axel that he needs this world more than the world needs him. But while we’re up to our eyeballs in “safe” blockbusters, engineered to appeal to every single demographic, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F shows the world will always need a throwback. Because classics never go out of style.

Where to Watch: Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F begins streaming Wednesday, July 3rd on Netflix.

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Eddie Murphy Is Older, Deeper, and Still Funny in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F: Review
Marcus Shorter