Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F: Netflix viewers contradict the critics with rave reviews

Eddie Murphy has returned as wise-cracking detective Axel Foley in the much-anticipated Beverly Hills Cop : Axel F , and viewers are loving it.

The new film, which arrived on Netflix on Wednesday (July 3), comes three decades after the comedy action franchise’s third 1994 entry. It sees Axel team up with a new partner and old friends to help his lawyer daughter after she’s threatened for trying to expose corruption in the Beverly Hills Police Department.

Directed by Mark Molloy, the movie also sees the return of Judge Reinhold as Detective Billy Rosewood and Bronson Pinchot as Serge. Kevin Bacon, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Taylour Paige also feature.

Critical reviews for the reboot have been mixed, with some writers arguing it inspires nostalgia and others taking a more disparaging view.

The Independent ’s Clarisse Loughrey wrote that the “much-hyped sequel fails to get with the times” in her two-star review.

She added: “The film has the confidence to poke fun at the franchise’s infamously bad third entry, yet comes to the table with nothing to prove, nothing to say, and nothing for Murphy to work with.”

Similarly, The New York Times called it “a limp, desperate action comedy with few memorable moments.”

However, viewers on Netflix appear to have had an overwhelmingly positive reaction to the new film.

“Just finished watching Beverly Hills Cop . What a fantastic movie. I hope you’ll make a fifth one. Well done, Netflix ,” one person wrote on X.

“Fun and a good time,” a second wrote. “Chaos comedy is always fun, just seeing things go out of control and people having crazier and crazier ideas.”

“It’s a fantastic comeback of Eddie Murphy as the street-smart detective with a mouth, Axel Foley. If there is one movie that you must binge this weekend, then let it be Beverly Hills Cop 4 ,” a third said, noting it was “pure nostalgia, fun with action.”

“Just want to say I am on the side of Beverly Hills Cop Axel F being brilliant,” a fourth declared. “Loved it.”

Another tweeted that the “new Beverly Hills Cop on Netflix is actually really fun” adding that “Eddie Murphy is excellent,” while another called it “f***ing fabulous.”

“ Beverly Hills Cop Axel Foley was awesome and everything I wanted it to be!” someone else praised. “Such a brilliant 80’s vibe and lots of excellent action with some good laughs. 2 hours went in a flash it was so much fun!”

Beverly Hills Cop isn’t the only 1980s film Murphy has returned to; in 2021, he appeared in Coming 2 America , which was a sequel to 1988 comedy Coming to America .

Speaking to Collider in 2019, Murphy described the films as a “bookend” to his career, which he launched as a comedian in 1980.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is out on Netflix now.