Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F
Plot
Axel is called back to Beverly Hills by his pal Billy Rosewood. It seems Axel’s daughter Jane, a public defender, is representing a supposed cop killer, and the cops want her to stop.
She, along with Billy thinks her client is innocent, and thinks that someone high up in the police force is dirty and behind it. So Axel helps her investigate.
But now, where is Billy?
Direction
This is Australian director Mark Molloy’s directorial debut. It is solid enough with good action sequences.
Cast/Characters
This feels ultra nostalgic in the cast department, with of course Eddie Murphy back as the main star. Also back for his fourth time is Judge Reinhold as Billy Rosewood.
Back again for their third outing each, are (the recently departed) John Ashton as Taggart (now a Chief), Paul Reiserr as Jeffrey Friedman (now a Deputy Chief), Bronson Pinchot as Serge.
New cast members are Kevin Bacon as Capt Kade Grant, Taylour Paige as Jane Saunders (Axel’s daughter) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Det Bobby Abbott, who Axel befriends (and is also Jane’s ex boyfriend).
Breakdown
Filmed an incredible 30 years after #3, and 40 years after #1, this is the closest to the ‘original’ feel of Axel that the previous film lacked.
His “on point” detective skills (in the opening scenes Ice Hockey Game) as well as his ‘play acting’ in a few moments too (the locker room hostage attack, Billy’s apartment and then with Chalino at the karaoke bar) are back, and still great. There are also some fun action sequences like the snow plow car chase, that shows that Foley is still causing chaos for the Detroit police.
Having old cast members back like Reiser, Pinchott and Ashton (especially the latter as he passed from cancer not long after filming), is like having old friends round for dinner you haven’t seen in years. It was also a fun way to discover why Taggart is back considering he was retired in the third film. It was frustrating that we had to wait til the very end of the film to have the three men share the screen due to Rosewood being MIA for most of the film.
Kevin Bacon’s Capt Grant is clearly going to be the bad guy from the moment you see him, and at least the film never really shied away from letting the audience know he was the baddie. He’s an okay antagonist, solely because Bacon knows how to ham it up, but his motivations are paper thin – and his execution of his plan is even worse. He’s unfortunately the worst main antagonist in the franchise because of this.
There was a bit too much convenience in the script that the arresting detective of Foley just happens to be his daughters ex bf. Also, Jane is shown to have been born in 1991, which means she was alive at the time of BHC3… this was another frustrating retcon of Axel’s past.
And of course, they have a strained relationship… not cliche at all!?!
A few returning songs in the soundtrack include Shakedown and Neutron Dance round out the ups of nostalgia.
Overall
A step up from the third (with a hilarious self awareness that Axel’s 94 trip to BH was not his finest hour), but still nowhere near the status of the first two. Long time fans will get a kick out of seeing Taggart and Freidman back, but poor narratives bring it down a touch.
3.5/5
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