Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F
Not a long time ago, “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” would’ve been the kind of legacy sequel that made an easy fortune at the Fourth of July box office. But times have changed, and now this fourth film in the Eddie Murphy series is going straight to Netflix instead of the multiplex. While streaming service sequels are usually synonymous with no quality control, “Axel F” turns out to be a surprisingly fun distraction the best installment since that other movie helped make him one of the biggest stars of his generation. Legacy sequels can often feel like cheap nostalgia machines, but there’s been something different about them lately with projects like “Creed” and “Top Gun: Maverick.”
“Axel F” might not quite reach those heights, but it’s immeasurably closer than you might think. It’s worth noting if nothing else how much more enjoyable it is to see Murphy bounce his comic timing off talented supporting players like Taylour Paige, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Kevin Bacon guys who give him something to work with again. The movie also sorta feels obligated to revisit characters from the original trilogy (like it’s part of some contractual agreement), which means most of those homages fall flat as well. But there’s enough here for Netflix to do on a holiday weekend when people used to go to theaters in droves: make them stay home.
“Axel F,” opens as these things do, with Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) getting into trouble while undercover in Detroit, this time he stops a robbery during a Red Wings game that leads to a destructive chase through town in a snow plow one of several well-staged chase scenes throughout the film, which seems like sort of a lost art during this era of over-CGI’d blockbusters. We learn that Axel’s old partner with DPD Jeffrey Friedman (Paul Reiser) is now the chief of police, though he’s already submitted his retirement papers. This sets off a series of conversations about aging law enforcement and a profession that doesn’t always treat its veterans well.
Axel himself is officially getting too old for this shit, but he’s forced back to Beverly Hills when his estranged daughter Jane (Paige) is almost murdered for getting involved with corrupt cops. So naturally Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and John Taggart (John Ashton) must return as well, the former has become a private detective after falling out with BHPD Chief Taggart led to his leaving the force. Stepping into this world for the first time are Detective Bobby Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Captain Cade Grant (Kevin Bacon). Abbott is Jane’s ex and an obvious ally, Grant might as well be twirling a handlebar mustache, he’s so clearly the bad guy.
Right away, “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” is light and fun in a way that most long-awaited sequels aren’t allowed to be, which was arguably missing from the second and third entries in this series. Murphy is at his best when he can bounce through a movie, light on his feet, laughing and smiling in that way that fans find so comforting. Even the score here feels fun as Lorne Balfe incorporates elements of the original Harold Faltermeyer classic into something fresh while also using tracks directly from the massive 1984 soundtrack.
Is that a cheap trick? Maybe it’s all about balance. When Bronson Pinchot’s Serge shows up for a lame scene, one starts to think about the version of this movie that’s all callbacks and familiar bits. But director Mark Molloy uses familiarity as seasoning instead of the entire meal. It may sound like faint praise but there are so many versions of this reboot probably including the one almost directed by Brett Ratner that go for cheap jokes about cancel culture, generation gaps, and other beats that usually weigh down recent movies with older comedy stars. There’s refreshingly little of that here as the script keeps things moving in a way where you don’t realize its a series that skipped at least one generation.
It helps to have supporting performers willing to play along, Murphy often comes alive when he has fun sparring partners such as acting opposite Wesley Snipes and Da’Vine Joy Randolph in “Dolemite is My Name.” Paige, JGL, and Bacon aren’t quite on their level together but they all get what they’re asked to do here; no phoning it in from them like so many Netflix original supporting players. Bacon leans into his self righteous villainy, JGL grounds the film in a few moments where it really needs it. Paige is great but admittedly runs out of things to do with her, the writers force her into the same arguments with her distant dad a few too many times. As for the returning heroes, Reinhold disappears for most of the movie, but Ashton delivers when he’s called on to do so.
On the production side, cinematographer Eduard Grau (“Passing”) works with commercial vet Molloy to give this film just the right amount of Cali sheen, closer to the look of the original with enough touches to remind people of the Tony Scott aesthetic of the first sequel too. Dan Lebental knows how to cut together these hot-weather legacy action/comedy sequels, following up his editing of “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” with another tightly cut summer sequel with right action rhythm. It may not mean anything to most Netflix viewers but a lot streaming original films especially ones that would be called cash grabs (looking at you, “Red Notice”) look lazily made and that’s never true here.
It is also important to note that Fourth of July movies have frequently represented a way of escape, an opportunity to forget about our problems for a couple hours and ignore the world outside in an air-conditioned cinema. As the planet grows increasingly polarized, chaotic, and anxiety riddled on a daily basis during the summer of 2024, there’s something strangely soothing about a film that like its title character, a cop who takes no crap just does what it sets out to do.
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