‘I’ ON CULTURE
I really liked the old Beverly Hills Cop movies, so I really had high hopes for the latest, which is the fourth in the series, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. This is not a theatrical film but featured on Netflix. And I really enjoyed it. It is hardly a great movie, but it is a lot of fun. We can see and hear Eddie Murphy doing all of his old routines, but now in an older but not that much more mature body. We also get a chance to revisit some of the fun characters we enjoyed 30 years ago.
The plot, of course, is convoluted, although, as expected, it essentially comes down to the old cops and robbers routine. Powerful gangsters do what they want until Axel Foley (Murphy) comes along and things collapse. The film starts off with Foley breaking up a robbery at a hockey game in Detroit that leads into a chase with Foley in a snow plow chasing bad guys on motorcycles. As expected, a bit of fun leading to extensive collateral damage. Axel is counseled to go visit his estranged daughter, Jane (Taylour Paige) in Los Angeles. Added to that, his old pal from Beverly Hills, Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold), calls to tell him that Jane is in trouble because she is defense lawyer for someone the powerful crooks are trying to frame for the murder of a policeman.
Axel comes out to Los Angeles and immediately gets into trouble as he tries to find Billy, who has disappeared. Arrested, he is brought to the headquarters of Chief John Taggart (John Aston), Rosewood’s old partner, by Detective Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who just happens to be his daughter’s ex-boyfriend. He gets to meet Capt. Cade Grant (Kevin Bacon), who heads up the Narcotics Task Force.
Axel works hard at reconnecting with his daughter, who has even changed her name because of her resentment, and he tries to help her get evidence to prove her client’s innocence. Added to all of that, Rosewood’s disappearance is involved. And, as always, Foley is told to stay out of things. Of course, if he listened, there would be no movie.
But the action moves along well. While the more emotional scenes between Foley and Jane provide a nice pause, they always seem to be interrupted by either wild action or a bit of comedy. And as the old lineup starts getting into place, we can enjoy the anticipation of a really fun ending. Which we get.
What makes this story is the cast. Murphy is still his usual wise guy self, a bit more interested in not hurting feelings, particularly of his daughter. He is fun, and even though he uses all the old routines, they seem to work.
Paige was really good as his daughter. She managed to play both tough and vulnerable. Gordon-Levitt was really good. Yes, he usually does far tougher parts, but he managed to be both tough and even funny. His chemistry with Murphy and Paige was exceptional. Bacon, meanwhile, was his usual self, sardonic and tough.
It was fun bringing back some of the old characters. Reinhold, who somehow doesn’t look 30 years older, was a lot of fun, particularly when verbally sparring with Ashton, his old partner. And Ashton managed to play just about right. At first, happy to see Foley, and then frustrated as the bureaucrat he had become, and then back to his old cop ways. Along the way, Bronson Pinchot did another turn as Serge, the gay friend. It was fun to see him, although some of the shtick used now seems not only dated but a bit disconcerting.
But there was not a real lot of time to worry about things like that. Director Mark Molloy keeps things moving. He used the music from the early movies for most of the score, which gave an even more pleasant déjà vu feel to the entire project. The chase scenes were fun as were the “con job” scenes that filled in between the action. Also, the chemistry between Murphy and Paige was great and help pull a lot of the emotions together.
This is, of course, the fourth in the series. The third one, done just about 30 years ago, was a sort of disaster, but this one is not. If you have Netflix and like action comedy, this one is just what you want to see.