Don Shanahan
Let it be known that Eddie Murphy is 63 years old. Hilariously, he’s approaching the 75, 76, and half of the 137-year-old numbers his Coming to America and Coming 2 America barbershop character Clarence cited as the wavering age of boxer Joe Louis (who was actually 37) coming out of retirement to fight (and lose to) Rocky Marciano in 1951. The Dreamgirls Oscar nominee is not coming out of any kind of retirement to make the dream fulfillment sequel Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F for Netflix, but Eddie Murphy should be looking more like crusty old Clarence than middle-aged Joe Louis here in 2024.
When it comes to playing Axel Foley again, body image characteristics don’t matter. Truth be told, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is 10, or even 20 years, too late and, for a momentary grain of reality, the years of service limits and retirement/pension ages for members of the Detroit Police have all long lapsed for the actor who was 21 when he made Beverly Hills Cop in 1984. All that counts are non-physical traits that don’t fall under the old “Black Don’t Crack” adage.
Unlike his musclebound action star peers of the 1980s and 90s, what made Axel Foley an entertaining and enduring character for Eddie Murphy was his riffing eloquence with all matters of verbal communication. The fast talker was the best bullshitter in the business. As long as Murphy could resummon that fluent tempo in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F– that crass, disarming, and profanity-soaked gift of gab– and keep it with some stamina for another lavish action comedy, all that was necessary would be fulfilled. Well, queue the popular wrestling crowd chant, because he’s still got it… and then some! When Judge Reinhold’s returning Billy Rosewood gushes “God, I missed you, Axel,” we’re right there with him with smiles on our faces amid a hail of gunfire and Murphy’s constantly-raised left eyebrow.
Taking a page from producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s Top Gun: Maverick legacy sequel playbook, the new film opens to Glenn Frey’s “The Heat is On” while Lt. Axel Foley is driving a late-model beater strafing the streets of the Motor City. Just like “Danger Zone,” we’re immediately transported back to this world, peppered with people waving their happy and also less-than-cordial greetings to their favorite (or least favorite) street cop. A second familiar jukebox spin is not far behind when “Shakedown” by Bob Seger fills the soundscape while Axel and a younger cop (TV actor Kyle S. More) hop in a city snowplow to engage in a destructive downtown pursuit of a gang fleeing on ATVs who robbed a Detroit Red Wings game.
Matching Axel Foley’s shockingly creative and effective improvisational skills to infiltrate any social confrontation, sounding the part remains essential. If there was ever a second trait Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F needed for audience buy-in, it was finding a way to call back to Harold Faltermeyer’s old synthesizer-powered underscore, especially the mega-popular “Axel F” beat. Current and inventive Mission: Impossible series composer Lorne Balfe did an outstanding job repurposing and pumping up Faltermeyer’s cues (take a listen here) into a full-bodied, adrenalized score.
While these needle drops establish their transparent nostalgia in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, they also remind us of the free-wheeling, devil-may-care energy that can no longer happen so flippantly. Axel’s troublemaking and property damage send his longtime buddy now-chief Jeffrey Friedman (Paul Reiser) to retirement when the force is “trading swashbucklers for social workers.” At the same time, word arrives that Axel’s alienated daughter and Beverly Hills-based attorney Jane Saunders (Zola and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom breakout Taylour Paige) is being intimidated and threatened to drop a case defending an alleged cop killer.
Jane’s been working with her unofficial “uncle,” retired-cop-turned-private-investigator Billy Rosewood, to exonerate her unpopular client against great pressure. The escalation of the case sends the semi-suspended Motown motormouth out to sunny southern California to stick his nose, badge, pistol, Detroit Lions jacket, and attitude where it doesn’t belong, yet is clearly called for. His status-busting arrival back in today’s Beverly Hills scene brings out more old faces (John Ashton’s Chief John Taggert, Bronson Pinchot’s Serge) and engages new ones, including BHPD Capt. Cade Grant (Kevin Bacon) and Jane’s old squeeze Det. Bobby Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt).
Call it obvious or low-hanging fruit, age and time are the attempted emotional chestnuts carried throughout Beverly Hills: Axel F. Sometimes those musings come up as softball punchlines to jokes, but the main affecting subplot is that of an absentee dad coming to grips with the sacrifices of his profession costing him quality connection with his family. Thanks to Taylour Paige’s solid presence working side-by-side with Murphy, our hero is forced to address his unapologetic selfishness for chasing collars all these years and causing complicated missteps as a parent. Paige, alongside a game Joseph Gordon Levitt, are nice lifts for this blockbuster.
In the end, the gaudy gumshoe plot scripted by Aquaman screenwriter Will Beall and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent team of Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten maintains the larger hold on Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. All of the escalating zaniness that wreck havoc in the 90210 zip code shows that producer Jerry Bruckheimer spared no expense in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F to bring back the sun-soaked and bullet-ridden action this franchise championed, guiding director Mark Molloy through his first feature. Supervising stunt coordinator and second unit director Mike Gunther (Ambulance, The Lost City) engineered the mayhem and practical effects to an impact and speed appropriate for it stars. Polishing the picture to a shine, the cinematography and editing team of Eduard Grau (The Way Back) and Dan Lebental (Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves) shaped the movie and its actors to look as spry and deadly as ever, making this time machine exceedingly successful.
Come on, Eddie. You’ve got a comeback winner here that erases the embarrassment of Beverly Hills Cop III. Tell us you have one more of these movies in your gas tank. You know you want it, and we want it too. While you’re strutting about with the rejuvenated cocksure clout sure to come from Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, tell Netflix to put these loud bangers in theaters next time, where they belong.
