Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F
Eddie Murphy’s cocky cop returns for a tired and flabby sequel with little to commend it.
Ageing disgracefully: John Ashton, Eddie Murphy and Judge Reinhold
Photo by Melinda Sue Gordon, Image courtesy of Netflix.
It’s almost impossible to comprehend just what a phenomenon Eddie Murphy was in the 1980s. Just as box-office stars of yore were being replaced by science-fiction spectaculars and gross-out comedies, along came this 23-year-old black kid from Brooklyn with a fog horn laugh. He already had two box-office hits under his belt when he demanded $4.5m – and a percentage of the profits – to play the unorthodox Detroit law enforcer Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop. It was a wise investment for Paramount Pictures as the comedy became the second highest-grossing movie of 1984, tidying up $730m by today’s currency. The sequel, which came three years later, boasted the biggest opening of any movie in history up to that time. In addition, the theme tune by Harold Faltermeyer was a top-ten hit, along with two other singles, Glenn Frey’s ‘The Heat Is On’ and The Pointer Sisters’ ‘Neutron Dance,’ both of which are recycled here for old times’ sake.
Since the glory days, after Murphy retreated to his Bubble Hill mansion in New Jersey (think Graceland and Neverland Ranch) and his larger-than-life ego lost him unnumerable friends, Murphy has had to lick his wounds. But one mustn’t forget what a talent he was: his verbal dexterity, his genius at mimicry, his physical comedy and even his musicianship. He was a grenade of virtuosity to whom unimaginable success came too soon. It’s been 21 years since the star had a hit to call his own, and even The Haunted Mansion (2003) was a disappointment for Disney, while its 14% rating on Rotten Tomatoes was just plain embarrassing. So you can’t blame the man for accepting the $15m that Netflix allegedly gave him to return to Beverly Hills.
Eddie Murphy is no longer 23, and neither is Axel Foley, although his behaviour might suggest otherwise. After he has demolished half of Detroit in a by-the-numbers chase sequence involving a snow plough, Axel learns that his estranged daughter Jane (Taylour Paige), now a defence attorney, is in danger back in LA. So he hops onto the next plane, but must first win his daughter’s trust – and the forbearance of the authorities he is effortlessly affronting – before he can save the day.
With the original theme tune buzzing on the soundtrack like an incorrigible gnat, this third sequel seems to be constantly begging for our approval, as if the 1980s were a good thing. But nostalgia and today’s New Age tolerance sit together like oil on water. Foley is an anomaly in a woke world, a circumstance that could have been exploited to huge advantage, but is wasted along with all the other lost opportunities. This is a dispiriting comeback, involving multiple car crashes, corrupt cops and cartel thugs, all crammed together like it was something novel.
There are some allusions to old age: the desk of John Ashton’s Chief Taggart is cluttered with bottles of pills, Paul Reiser’s Deputy Chief Friedman is contemplating retirement (“it’s just a job”), and even Bronson Pinchot’s irredeemably camp Serge (now a real estate agent) is losing his hearing. There are other characters, too, all of whom are straining to make their mark, because everybody in Los Angeles is, apparently, a comic. It gets wearisome after a while. Only the bad guys and their tattoos behave like bad guys, which includes Kevin Bacon’s coke-snorting smoothie who appears to be evil on autopilot. There’s a running joke that quickly wears thin, of Axel commandeering variously inappropriate vehicles, from the snow plough at the beginning to a parking enforcement trolley, a removal lorry, a golf cart and even a helicopter. Unfortunately, the direction of first-time helmer Mark Molloy is decidedly flat, the dialogue uninspired (Judge Reinhold: “you can never have too much fire power”) and the action set pieces standard-issue. For an action-comedy, there is plenty of action, but the laughs are non-existent. It’s all about as inspired as the title itself.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Eddie Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Taylour Paige, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Paul Reiser, Bronson Pinchot, Kevin Bacon, Kyle S. More, Damien Diaz, Mark Pellegrino, Nasim Pedrad, Luis Guzmán, Christopher McDonald.
Dir Mark Molloy, Pro Jerry Bruckheimer, Eddie Murphy and Chad Oman, Screenplay Will Beall, Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten, Ph Edu Grau, Pro Des Jahmin Assa, Ed Dan Lebental, Music Lorne Balfe, Costumes Nancy Steiner, Sound Chris Diebold and Randy Torres.
Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films/Eddie Murphy Productions-Netflix.
117 mins. USA. 2024. UK and US Rel: 3 July 2024. Cert. 15.
