On July 3, Netflix released a comedy action movie «Beverly Hills cop: Axel F», in which Eddie Murphy reprises his role as Detroit police detective Axel Foley for the fourth time. The release takes place 40 years after the premiere of the first part and 30 — after the release of the third part. In the review below, we recall some of the past achievements and tell you whether there is still powder in the guns of the Detroit cop who is not indifferent to the sunny Californian city.
Pluses:
return of old characters; constant presence of the iconic musical theme in different variations; several episodes can make you smile slightly; references to the previous installments;
Minuses:
the film is clumsily realized in its genre component; continuous genre clichés; the authors' inability to breathe fresh air into the franchise; attempts to make a profit solely on nostalgic feelings; failed storylines with new characters;
«Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F»
Genre comedy action movie
Director Mark Molloy
Starring Eddie Murphy, Taylor Paige, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Judge Reinhold, Paul Reiser, Kevin Bacon, Mark Pellegrino, John Ashton
Premiere Netflix
Year of issue 2024
Website IMDb
Detroit police detective Axel Foley is not going to switch to a boring office job and certainly has no intention of retiring, but still prefers to serve on the streets of the city. And so, fate brings the restless cop to Beverly Hills again, which means that the sunny California city needs to prepare for a new surge of chaos and destruction.
When it turns out that the life of Axel’s daughter, lawyer Jane, is in danger, he immediately arrives in the place close to his heart. There, Foley meets up with old friends, former partners Billy Rosewood and John Taggart, and also meets new characters — narcotics captain Cade Grant and detective Sam Abbott. Now the protagonist has to find out who dared to touch Jane and conduct serious educational work with the villains.
«Beverly Hills Cop» — is a benchmark comedy action movie about buddy cops from the production tandem of Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, who brought the world such action films as «Top Gun», «Days of Thunder», «The Rock» and «Bad Boys» — another representative of the buddy cop genre, this time from the 90s. The latter, by the way, were successfully revived in 2020 and even are not going to to rest on their laurels. Now it’s time to pull out a hit from the even more distant past with the ever-present Eddie Murphy.
Before the new movie, the franchise had three full-length films that grossed a total of $735 million. The series has become a hallmark of Eddie Murphy’s filmography, giving the world the legendary Axel F instrumental, which never ceases to explode with new rounds of popularity — from Crazy Frog remixes to TikTok trends — and has gained cult status.
While the first part, with a budget of $13 million, grossed more than $230 million at the box office in the United States alone. It was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Original Screenplay category, the production of the third part cost $50 million. However, the film failed, having lost a lot of quality. The nominations for two «Golden Raspberries» were a clear confirmation of this.
They wanted to start the next series since the mid-90s, but the film fell into production hell. Constant rewrites of the script, changes in directors (at one stage, they were the duo Adil & Bilal, responsible for the latest «Bad Boys»), and attempts to realize the project in a series format ultimately led to nothing.
But be that as it may, the fourth coming of the irrepressible Axel Foley is finally happening. And it looks more like a pleasant, nostalgic get-together of old friends than an attempt to breathe fresh air into a bronzed franchise and the same genre. It’s a kind of «The Expendables» from a buddy movie, when it’s nice to see old friends on the screen, but you clearly understand that it’s just a retirement comeback for famous heroes whose best days are far behind them.
At the very beginning, before the action moves to California, Detroit’s harsh snows contrast sharply with the usual palm-fringed, sun-drenched, luxury neighborhoods. But Foley quickly pulls on an authentic baseball jacket, blue jeans, and white sneakers and, accompanied by a 80s soundtrack, goes back to Beverly Hills to cut his teeth.
But. If the successful first two films were imbued with the bright vibe of the 80s, and the central character was guided by the slogan «I’ll teach you everything bad that I know», then «Beverly Hills Cop» of 2024 is far from such mischief.
It’s no longer a good idea for an old cop to play the fool to get into an elite establishment or an expensive hotel (there’s an episode in the movie that plays on this nuance). That’s why there are few moments where Eddie Murphy can show his comedic talent. Instead of a series of funny situations and practical jokes that were the specialties of his predecessors, we get a completely failed storyline with Axel Foley’s daughter. And instead of smoky strip clubs with naked beauties, we get some kind of clumsy karaoke bar with Luis Guzman with painted nails. But this time, at least it’s not an amusement park — and that’s good.
At the same time, the film cannot boast of any really exciting investigation adventure. The narrative lacks coherence and literally gets bogged down in endless, unimaginative chatter, and here we again recall the catastrophically unnecessary clarification of the relationship between Foley and his daughter.
The main problem with «Axel F» is that its authors are trying to make a go of it solely on the basis of old developments, nostalgia, and pleasant references to the first film, without any ambition to bring something new to the series.
The film follows the familiar canons of the genre completely and irrevocably, if not to say that it abuses clichés. Jumping to save a loved one from a bullet in a slum — is no longer a good idea. The new characters, primarily those of Taylor Paige and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, are not interesting. The $150 million budget is not felt at all. While the initial chase in a snowplow truck looks good, the bizarre helicopter ride doesn’t add any excitement.
But it’s nice to see the old guard back in the picture. Globally, this could be a lifeline, but only for fans of the franchise. Here you have Paul Reiser, Judge Reinhold, who looks suspiciously like Mickey Rourke (and he once claimed the title role), and old John Ashton, who was absent from the third film. The iconic Axel F, which can be heard in several variations at once, hasn’t disappeared either.
It’s a pity that the creators only showed imagination with the soundtrack. «Damn Foley, at it again!» — John Taggart says angrily in one of the scenes. Indeed, the plot follows a well-trodden path, relies on the previous achievements of the local stars and offers everything we have seen many times before. But this is not enough to claim anything more than the dubious status of a passable movie.
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