Beverly Hills Cop 2
Beverly Hills Lt Bogomil is suspended by his new boss Capt Lutz, over his investigation into the bank robbers who have been dubbed the Alphabet Criminals.
When he is gunned down outside his home Detroit detective Axel Foley heads back to California to help Rosewood and Taggart find the culprits and bring them down.
Direction
Action director, the late Tony Scott takes the helm with the second in the series, and it has all his stylistics all over it. Focusing more on yellows, and bright sunshine as apposed to the more dark undertones to the first film.
Cast/Characters
Returning from the first film are;
Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley
Judge Reinhold as Billy Rosewood
John Ashton as Taggart
Gill Hill as Inspector Todd
Paul Reiser as Friedman, and Ronny Cox as Bogomil
New players are Brigitte Nielsen, Jürgen Prochnow, Dean Stockwell, and Paul Guilfoyle as the antagonists of the film.
Breakdown
Once again Murphy shines as the gifted detective – mixing his comedic style with his smart cop moments.
There is once again the cliche boss won’t listen with Bogomil’s boss Lutz being the irritating antagonist within the police department.
The actual antagonists while many, don’t feel as threatening as the previous installments. Prochnow’s big bad isn’t even introduced until half an hour in, and only appears in a few scenes – barely any with Murphy.
There seems to be more conflict between the villains themselves, such as Prochnow vs his right hand man, Stockwell.
Prochnow becomes an almost forgettable villain, with more attention given to Neilsen. Her character feels nameless, and it didn’t occur to me until I looked at IMDB that I didn’t even remember hearing it throughout the film.
The action sequences are quite fun, but lack that “upped the ante” that most sequels are famous for. There are some fun chase sequences, but even the final shoot out (with gun loving Billy) seems a tad underwhelming.
The partnership between Rosewood and Taggart, has similar moments of friendship like seen in the first, however it does seem not as well refined this time. I did love that the familiarity between Axel and the Beverly Hills Cops (aside from Lutz) is much stronger – especially between Axel and Bogomil’s daughter, who he treats like his own daughter/
Overall
Despite my “negativity” this was still a very good film, but it pales in comparison to its predecessor.
Murphy’s comedic style is still top, and his charming screen presence is on high.
3.5/5
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