Judge Reinhold is riding in a truck being chased by angry cops when he turns to Eddie Murphy, who is driving the truck, and says something we’re all feeling, “Oh my god, I missed you, Axel.”
We all did, really, but we get to see the sarcastic and sweet Axel Foley once again in Netflix’s “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,” which arrives exactly 30 years after 1994’s “Beverly Hills Cop III.” Is the new movie any good? Who cares?
The fourth film not only brings Murphy and Reinhold back to the Axel Foley Cinematic Universe, but also longtime co-stars Paul Reiser, John Ashton, and Bronson Pinchot. Kevin Bacon, Taylour Paige, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt also make their film debuts.
The plot is pretty simple: Murphy’s Foley is living his best cop life in Detroit — destroying things in spectacular fashion — when he’s asked to return immediately to Beverly Hills to help his estranged daughter, played with real spunk by Taylour Paige. Then he gets caught up in a murder case involving dirty cops and gets a chance to make fun of Beverly Hills.
Newcomers may be put off by the Mark Molloy-directed sequel’s slow pace and ’80s feel. It’s not as fun as the previous films or as ambitious as the sequels to the beloved franchise. But it does see Murphy blowing things up and joking about them – which is exactly what we need.
“Oh my God, Foley. We start again,” says Ashton, who plays the frustrated chief of police, and this sentiment is also evident in the fourth entry. To cheer up his Gen X friends, all you have to do is watch Murphy sitting in the back of a car while Glenn Frey’s “The Heat Is On” plays.
Speaking of music, it seems the filmmakers wanted to break the record for most theme songs played in a single film, as Harold Faltermeyer’s instrumental “Axel F” has been played approximately 5,000 times.
“Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” also features a lot of vehicles, perhaps reflecting the advanced age of the core group. There’s a snowplow, a helicopter, a golf cart and trucks, none of which have been returned to good condition.
The screenwriters — Will Beall, Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten — have given Murphy plenty of room to improvise, but they’ve also crafted some surprisingly strong dialogue between Foley and his 32-year-old daughter, both of whom are plagued by hurt feelings.
“You didn’t fight. I’m your daughter. You only fought for your job,” she tells him. “Look, the two of us screwed this up together. OK? Let’s even it out.” Come for the blows, stay for the heart-to-hearts.
Murphy uses Mary J. Blige’s “Family Affair” to prove it. In one scene, Foley is arrested while trying to escape in a ridiculously small police car. One of the traffic cops is played by Murphy’s daughter Bria, one of his 10 children. Another cop who later electrocutes him is a son-in-law.
Much has changed in the three decades since Foley was breaking rules and cracking skulls, and there’s a sense of elegy as these older men go off to war again. “They don’t want fencers in there anymore. They want social workers,” says Reeser’s detective.
There’s an inside joke about Wesley Snipes, little barking dogs and Spirit Airlines, a scary shootout on Wilshire Boulevard, too much synthesizer playing and, in the final sequel, a stinker: Gordon-Levitt shows up to all of Foley’s encounters with the California police and says “’94 was not your finest hour.”
“Axel F” isn’t Murphy’s finest hour either. But Murphy saying “Jesus!” is funny. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait another 30 years for our next Axel Foley. God, we miss him.
“Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,” a Netflix release opening Wednesday, is rated R for “language throughout, violence and brief drug use.” Duration: 117 minutes. Two out of four stars.
Definition of R according to the MPAA: Restricted. Children under 17 require accompanying parent or adult guardian.
Online: https://www.netflix.com/title/81076856
Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
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