Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F Review: The Heat Is Lukewarm in Netflix’s 30-Years-Later Sequel
Axel Foley is tired, man.
The veteran lawman literally says so not an hour into in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, when rather than slip into yet another colorful persona/accent to finagle himself a room at (yes, the) Beverly Palms Hotel, he stops himself mid-bit, lets out an exhausted sigh, and instead just opens his wallet.
Has the film franchise as a whole — heretofore dormant for three decades (save for a busted CBS TV series pilot) — similarly run out of gas?
Ever since this made-for-Netflix sequel (releasing Wednesday) was announced, few have been as excited for it as I, a Gen Xer whose Beverly Hills Cop VHS tape was in steady rotation at college. Alas, the nagging feeling that I got once Axel F‘s full trailer came out — “Wait, did they mistake the franchise for being action-heavy, and not jokes-forward?!” — proved spot-on.
Running not quite two hours and curiously not titled Beverly Hills Cop 4 (have numbered sequels become scary to people?), Axel F finds Eddie Murphy‘s titular Detroit police detective making a beeline for Los Angeles when the life of his daughter Jane is threatened. A public defender, Jane is under fire for representing an accused cop killer, though her client — and a lead being diligently chased by LAPD vet Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold), now a P.I. — suggest that all is not as it seems.
In addition to Murphy and Reinhold, franchise vets John Ashton, Paul Reiser and Bronson Pinchot all put in appearances, as Taggart (now an LAPD police chief), Jeffrey (now, improbably, Axel’s boss at the Detroit PD) and that lemon tweeest-loving Serge.
New to the mix are Taylour Paige (The Baxters, Hit the Floor) as the aforementioned Jane Saunders, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as LAPD Detective Bobby Abbott (a foil for Axel and former love interest of Jane’s), and Kevin Bacon as the head of a narcotics task force.
Does Axel use fake names/job titles to talk his way past obstacles in his investigation? Of course he does. Does Billy get to regard big guns with glee, and does Taggart fetch a shotgun from his trunk? Yes, and yes. Do “The Heat Is On,” “Shakedown,” “Neutron Dance” and Harold Faltermeyer’s “Axel F.” all get encores? You betcha.
But as much as I anticipated that warm hug of a trip down memory lane, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is… just not that funny. And as much as it fancies itself an action movie, the 10-minute cold open — a riff on Cop 2‘s cement truck chase scene, but swapping in a similarly unwieldy snowplow — will have you checking your watch as of often as you’re not chuckling at quips about Black people disliking ice hockey.
Murphy, now 63 (versus 23 when the franchise launched in 1984), is understandably not as physically elastic as he used to be, when launching into a silly voice or persona. And there’s no more of that devilish gleam in his eyes, such as when the Axel conjured the idea of sweatily shlepping “plutonium nitrate multi-explosive projectiles” into the Beverly Hills Gun Club.
Instead, Murphy likely saw an opportunity to explore Axel’s paternal side vis-à-vis Jane’s life-and-death dilemma, and he does give his all to the fraught father/estranged daughter moments. (Alas, Paige as a result doesn’t get to have much fun as Janey until about two-thirds of the way in; but once she does, she shines.) Murphy develops a fun rapport with Gordon-Levitt’s character, especially during a helicopter chase gone awry.
I won’t get into spoilers here, but one of the returning characters is given a story arc that simply does not track. And the villain of the piece does not measure up to the likes of Steven Berkoff’s Victor Maitland, Jürgen Prochnow’s Maxwell Dent or even Brigitte Nielsen’s Karla Fry. It is amusing, though, to spy Mark Pellegrino (Lost) quietly filling the Jonathan Banks role, as the Big Bad’s hired muscle. And SNL vet Nasim Pedrad absolutely steals a scene as a sing-songy real estate agent who not-so-silently loathes the property she is showing to a pair of “newlyweds.”
If you loved the original Beverly Hills Cop, liked the first sequel and… well, let’s just say that Axel F offers a wonderfully meta dig at the amusement park-set third film… you, as I did, will make it through this new entry just fine. You’ll grin now and again, laugh at a couple of Murphy’s line deliveries, and smile warmly during the Axel/Taggart/Billy scene glimpsed in the photo above. Even seeing the facade of the Beverly Palms Hotel again might give you a charge.
Eddie Murphy is out there saying he’s open to a fifth go-round, but Axel F, I fear, could prove to be the banana in the franchise’s tailpipe.
Unless it racks up a kajillion minutes viewed on Netflix. Which it very well might.
THE TVLINE BOTTOM LINE: Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is heavy on non-spectacular action, light on the improvisational Eddie Murphy humor of old.
Once you have seen Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, grade it below!
The cement truck chase is in BHC#2. The opening chase in 1 is Axle is the back of a trailer full of cigarettes.
Good catch, fixed! (They do love a clumsy vehicle; Axel F has two such chases.)
Sorry to hear this… but it’s not really surprising, since 4 out of 5 Netflix original movies that you’re hoping will be great turn out to be pretty mediocre. I’ll still watch it, just because it’s there.
Eddie Murphy is the funniest comedian around. Loved watching him on SNL and his HBO specials. He is a great actor. I read reviews by the professionals but go see for myself because professional reviewers always forget one thing, TV shows and movies are a way for people to take a break from their normal daily lives.
His Raw and Delirious stand up comedy videos were hysterical. I still laugh thinking about them years later.
IMO they haven’t aged well at all. Even Eddie Murphy has basically said so himself. But to each their own.
I mean, he said that they WERE hysterical, past tense. Saying something was funny, for its time, is not a bad thing. I think everybody acknowledges that sort of humor wouldn’t fly today.
This review was written by Matt W.M., and he definitely remembers that. He’s in it for the fun just like we are. Certain other TVLine reviewers do have that problem, though.
“the banana in the franchise’s tailpipe.”
NOW you’re talking meta!
I’m all in for the Axel/Taggart/Billy scenes. Still can’t wait to watch it. It’s pure nostalgia for me.
Sounds like a great, fun movie. Will be watching!!!
Sad to hear they forgot the funny. I was really hoping for this to be class.
I’ll still watch for sure, but it sounds like another netflix by algorithm movie.
Did Netflix write the script?
I’ll still check it out, although my hopes were never high after the 3rd one.
Just watched it, a fun 2 hours. Not groundbreaking, but an enjoyable film, and great to see all these old characters together again. If there was another one, I’d watch it!
I enjoyed it. It was a fun summer movie. It was a little less ridiculous than the other movies and a bit more serious, which actually worked. I still laughed. I am not a fan of Netflix movies. They can make great series, but usually, their movies are just bad. This one wasn’t.
Is Eddie the “titular Detroit police detective” though? Since the title was “Beverly Hills Cops” and in the first movie Axel introduces Billy to Jenny by saying “Billy’s a Beverly Hills Cop.” Which Eddie is not since he is a Detroit cop….
I can’t wait. I love Eddie Murphy and Beverly Hills Cop is one of the best
Admittedly, I was not obsessed with the franchise back in the day, but I thought this movie was fun! I appreciated that they found a way to bring most of the old gang back. The trailers seemed to have spoiled a lot of the movie though, not that I was expecting a really deep, twisty story. I’d watch it again for sure, and would look forward to a 5th installment, if they decide to do one.
I can’t seem to think of a decades-later sequel to a comedy that turned out worthwhile. Coming to America, Anchorman, Zoolander, Dumb and Dumber, etc… some funny moments maybe, but overall none of them came close to their predecessors and just felt unnecessary. I’ve been expecting about the same of this new Beverly Hills Cop.
The only thing that disappointed me, was not hearing Eddie Murphy’s signature laugh in the movie… That was ALWAYS THE BEST FOR ME GROWING UP… But I loved it.
Well this is disappointing, but at least now I can go into it with lower expectations and thus maybe enjoy it more than I would’ve.
As for not calling it Beverly Hills Cop 4, the real question is why not call it Beverly Hills Cop AF instead of Axel F… I mean, come on…
Everybody got old…even Joseph Gordon-Levitt. LOL Story was ok, action was ok, villain was way too obvious. Directing was bad and unfortunately there was no chemistry beetween father and daughter, sorry.
It would have been much better if they did a bit of making fun of the 80es movies instead of just copying elements of it. BHC 1 and 2 were great, I love them and watch them every other year. 3 not so much.
Story would have better if Jeffrey was in BH and in trouble. I mean Taggart not believing in Billy”s hunches, c’mon…
For those whose left comments before you saw the movie: It was fun, fast paced and really enjoyable!! Loved it!
It was my favorite of the bunch.
That was the best Beverly Hills Cop movie. I’m going to end up watching it again.
The movie was the embodiement of the word “Meh”. A boring story, uninteresting villain, meioicre action scenes and jokes that mostly dont land. Could have been worse. But also should have been better.
I’m watching it now but the irony of the opening seen and where my buckeye in sports media works made me laugh. Better “believeable”black female casting made my day. Now back to watching…
I thought Jane was a high priced criminal defense lawyer, since she took on the case pro bono? She was the lowest point of the movie for me.
It was fun, but not as much as the original, because how could it be? But it was a nice break with my Gen X hubby. Give it a watch.