A scene from ‘Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F’ | Photo credit: Netflix
If you’re fighting a terrible bug like me and feeling bad, who do you call? Well, you could probably call or watch Ghostbusters Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.The scene with our favorite bumbling axel Foley (Eddie Murphy), smiling delightedly as he insults the good people of Detroit while Glenn Frey sings ‘The Heat Is On’ is enough to bring a smile to anyone’s face.
Other returnees include Billy (Judge Reinhold), Chief Taggart (John Ashton), Jeffrey Friedman (Paul Reiser), Foley’s partner at the Detroit Police Department, and art/arms dealer, Serge (Bronson Pinchot).
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (English
Director: Mark Molloy
Mould: Eddie Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Taylour Paige, Judge Reinhold, Paul Reiser, Kevin Bacon
Runtime: 115 minutes
Plot: After his daughter gets into trouble, it’s time for Axel Foley to head for the mountains again
Foley is doing his job with a snow plow chasing bad guys from a hockey game in Detroit (just another day at the office) before Billy calls to tell him that his estranged daughter Jane (Taylor Paige), a criminal defense attorney, has gotten into trouble with some very bad people. Foley immediately packs his bags and heads to the City of Angels to make things right.
A scene from ‘Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F’ | Photo credit: Netflix
And he immediately springs into action to get rid of the scary goons who break into Billy’s office. Coincidentally, Billy has retired from the Beverly Hills Police Department and has become a private investigator. Jane is defending Sam, who is accused of murdering an undercover cop, because she feels something is wrong.
Foley is not fooled by the flamboyant police captain Grant (Kevin Bacon) – his $2000 Gucci shoes and Rolex are given as gifts. The detective in charge of the case, Sam Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is Jane’s ex-boyfriend. Abbott and Jane reluctantly team up with Foley because there is no way he will give up pursuing her. The kingpin of the music cartel, there is cocaine in macabre sculptures, crooked cops, ugly, pretentious mansions and $1000-a-night hotels.
First-time director Mark Molloy Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F With a light touch. Nostalgia is there, but not a kneeling at the altar, worshiping kind of thing. It’s a fun way to remember why we liked it Beverly Hills Cop 40 (wow!) years ago and liked the Hindi film avatar of Pankaj Parasher, Jalwa (1987) is also included.
Murphy mesmerizes anyone in the middle of busy events in his jeans, jacket and sneakers with that deadly rowdy smile and bright pearly eyes. From telling a movie-mad man that he is the producer of “a new Liam Neeson revenge thriller called” to seizeto the completely out-of-control low-flying helicopter chase – it’s all good and great fun. Gordon-Levitt and Bacon give good performances (the former more so than the latter) while Peggy is mostly forgettable.
A scene from ‘Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F’ | Photo credit: Netflix
The thirty-year wait for Harold Faltermeyer’s electronic instrumental, ‘Axel F,’ may have been a little too long when a quick-witted Detroit police lieutenant straightened things up, but the wait was worth it. And although Friedman told Foley that “they don’t want swordsmen, they want social workers,” we know that as long as Axel F is on the streets, we have nothing to worry about and plenty to smile about.
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is currently streaming on Netflix
