Being the giant fan that I am of the Beverly Hills Cop movies, I jumped for joy (no actual jumping took place) at the thought of another film added to the franchise that I love so dearly, even if it is a franchise that left us fans on a bit of a sour note thanks to the very lackluster 3rd film back in 1994, directed by John Landis of all people.
It has been a few years since I’ve seen the previous movies, so I thought what a better chance to now go back and rewatch them. Even the less than stellar 3rd entry into the franchise I remember liking a lot more than others who have panned it.
But after rewatching them, yes Beverly Hills Cop III is bad, bad in a very obvious way too. John Landis was not a good pick for director, as the humor was way off this time around, seeming almost like a spoof or even a cartoon of itself. The random dancing, the bizarre blank looks of a crowd as they watch Axel dangle from a broken ride at an amusement park as he tries to rescue some kids… Not to mention the giant gun that was both a microwave and a CD player.
As for the other two sequels, Beverly Hills Cop and Beverly Hills Cop II still absolutely hold up. I think there is room for debate however on which film you think is better. I believe they are both fantastic but bring different things to the table.
To me, it seems that the first film is way better written, with so many memorable lines and moments that make it a classic. But I will say, maybe not the best directed, especially when it comes to the action. There’s a fantastic chase scene at the start, but after that it kind of mellows out, only getting an exciting shootout towards the end.
Beverly Hills Cop II however, I feel has the opposite problem, where the script isn’t as strong, the jokes not a frequent or as funny, the action however is topnotch, as this time it was directed by action movie auteur Tony Scott. A director I consider to be one of the best around in the late 80’s and early 90’s.
Beverly Hills Cop II is also one of the best looking/shot movies in the franchise. Especially when you compare it to 3, where it looks almost like it was shot for TV.
Thankfully however, you really don’t need to watch all three films to enjoy Axel F, the 4th entry into the series. You can skip 3 altogether, and 2 isn’t required either, but I’d say at least watch the first film if you can. It really helps knowing these characters before going into it.
Netflix had all but the 3rd available to stream, so what better time to binge them before the release of the much-awaited 4th film.
Despite the awful title, Axel F, I knew this Netflix original would be good. Call it foresight, clairvoyance, or just wishful thinking, I knew it would at least be better than 3 and thank god I was right.
It isn’t as better written as the first, and it isn’t directed as well as the 2nd, but it does both just well enough that you will walk away very satisfied by the experience.
You’ll be happy to see all these characters back together again, a bit older but not missing a single beat either. For some odd reason Taggart wasn’t in the 3rd film, hand waving it away with the excuse, oh he just retired. It is something brought up in Axel F, since Taggart is now the police chief. They play off the gag they started in 2 where he is having troubles in his marriage, so back to work at the PD. It’s silly, but it fits the character.
The second film was really where they fleshed out these characters more, including Billy, who turns out is kind of strange dude who loves plants and giant guns.
But long story short, the whole gang is back together again, minus Ronny Cox, who I’m shocked to learn is still alive. He’s pushing almost 90, but the man is still kickin’!
In every film, there’s always an excuse to bring Axel back to Beverly Hills. In the first, it was the death of his friend who stole from a dirty art dealer/smuggler.
In the second, it was the attempted murder of the Ronny Cox’s character the Captain of the Beverly Hills police department, who Axel has garnered a friendship with after the first film.
And to kind of repeat that scenario, Axel takes off to Beverly Hills after his own police chief is shot and killed.
In Axel F, his estranged daughter finds herself in trouble after taking a case involving a dirty cop. She’s a hotshot lawyer, who gets under the skin of other cops as she tries defending a suspect involved in the death of an undercover cop.
Billy, played once again by Judge Reinhold, has been fired from the police department, now working as a private investigator. He is the one that brings this case to Jane, Axel’s daughter.
If I had one complaint right out the gate, Billy basically shows up for a scene or two before pretty much vanishing from the movie. Instead of pairing Axel up with his old friend, they have him mostly traveling with his daughter.
Axel, I think works better alone and some of the best scene in this movie are when he gets a chance to hog the scene for himself, as Eddie Murphy is still the best thing about these movies.
One thing I was disappointed by was the lack of that classic Axel laugh. Turns out, that wasn’t something he came up with for the character, that was just how Eddie Murphy laughed. He felt so self-conscious about it, he forced himself to stop laughing that way, which is why it’s no longer in the movie.
The first two Beverly Hills Cop movies always start with Axel undercover, the third only had him trying to access a chop shop, 4 we see him at a hockey game, trying to bust some jewel thieves going after the players jewelry in their locker room.
This of course leads to a big chase, slightly reminiscent of the big chase scene from part 2. The total destruction left on the city gets Axel in trouble but his longtime friend on the force played by Paul Reiser who is now captain, falls on his sword, taking the blame and getting fired instead.
The way he sees it, he has a family while the job is really the only thing Axel has, taking that away from him would be a cruel bit of punishment.
Soon after, he gets the call from Billy telling him about the attack on his daughter Jane. He rushes back to Beverly Hills where things haven’t really changed much, maybe just have gotten a bit stranger perhaps.
He meets with Taggart, who introduces him to Kevin Bacon’s character Cade Grant, the captain of the LAPD vice squad.
Thing about the Beverly Hills Cop movies, it’s never really a mystery as to who the bad guy is. It’s mostly about trying to find a way to prove their guilt, even though Axel just kills them in the end anyways. I don’t think he’s ever arrested anyone in all 4 movies.
Right away you know Kevin Bacon is our bad guy.
If I had to list the best bad guy in any of these movies, surprisingly I’d have to go with Beverly Hills Cop III. Not a great movie, but that villain is one evil swarmy bastard. It’s the movie that really plays up the obvious bad guy but can’t prove it theme.
With Kevin Bacon’s character I think they are trying to do something a bit different, as it’s meant to be like a mirror image of a path Axel could have easily gone down, given his criminal past.
While at the precinct, Axel also meets with Bobby, Jane’s ex-boyfriend.
Axel tries to reconnect with his daughter but after a failed marriage and sending her and her mother away out of fear of retaliation from his enemies, Jane really wants nothing to do with him.
They never mention who Jane’s mother is, but in my mind, it has to be Janice from the third film, the only film where Axel had a love interest. Though it would be funny if it was Jenny from the first film, who just vanished from these movies like a fart in the air.
Ironically still bringing back Serge for his obligated cameo though. He went from art dealer, gun seller to whatever it is he does now.
After Billy calls Axel to tell him about his daughter, he gets taken and his fate left up in the air, as Axel searches for his whereabouts and what it was he had been working on as a private investigator.
After following some clues, Axel and Jane head to the car depot, wanting to give the car that was involved in this undercover cop’s death a quick look over. They find a hidden camera but no SD card. They figure Billy must have planted it in the car as it wasn’t police issued.
Axel also keeps running into a pair a goons, who seem to also be looking for the SD card Billy hid.
Following a few more clues, Axel tracks down an address to a mansion owned by Grant, Kevin Bacon’s character. Finding it suspicious, Axel takes a look inside and finds that the place is being used to ship drugs for the cartel.
Knowing Axel and Bobby are getting too close, Grant sets them up, planting drugs on them and arresting them on the spot.
With some trickery, Axel and Bobby manage to get away in a low flying helicopter that they do inevitably crash land into a golf course.
A running tradition in these films, there’s always a celebrity cameo. In the first, it was Damon Wayans who gave Axel the bananas for the infamous bananas in the tailpipe scene. In part 2 it was Chris Rock and in part three it was George Lucas.
For the 4th film, it was a bit more subtle than that, as the cameo was from Christopher McDonald. Who maybe you might remember from the Happy Gilmore film. Funny thing is, this wasn’t a cameo for the actor, it was a cameo for that character he played in Happy Gilmore, Shooter McGavin.
Netflix is doing a sequel to Happy Gilmore, so I guess it makes sense this random thing happened in it. Like New Girl suddenly showing up in Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Anyway, Axel tracks down the port they plan of shipping the drugs from, finding Billy who has been taken hostage. He tells Axel where the SD card is and as they go to retrieve it, they get a call telling Axel that Jane has been taken.
They want the SD card, or they will kill her.
Figuring Grant is holding her at the cartel mansion, Axel and the whole gang team up to take it down.
This scene was very reminiscent of the big shootout in the first film. Both films ending with Axel, Taggart and Billy having a big firefight at the bad guy’s mansion as he holds Jenny hostage.
For the most part, Axel F does a good job being its own film, not really relying much on nostalgia baiting or callback scenes like most films like this would do. There isn’t anything as blatant as another banana in the tailpipe scene, but it does at times feel like you’ve seen this done before.
I honestly don’t know why this film couldn’t have ended at the port where they were shipping the drugs. Why did it have to be yet another mansion firefight with another person close to Axel getting kidnapped?
The movie was doing so good up until then, too. It also ends the exact same way as the other films do with the bad guy getting a bullet in the head.
This doesn’t ruin the movie by any means, it’s just me wanting them to be as original as they have been up until this moment.
Each film has had some pretty big directors attached to them, Axel F however seems to be by a newcomer, with this as his first feature, looking like commercials being the only thing they have previously worked on.
And as a first-time director, he did a pretty damn good job, especially when it came to the action sequences. He also wasn’t too bad at setting up comedic scenes, like the low flying helicopter or my favorite, the high-speed chase in the parking ticket police officer’s tiny police car.
The writing I think could have also been better, this time by the screenwriter who did the new Bad Boys film and some DC movies. So, it could have been worse if you look at it like that.
I think Axel F is a solid RENT and a soft SEE IT. It kind of falls in between those two lines. It’s a solid entry into the franchise, it didn’t lean on nostalgia, it just could have had a better plot that made it stand out, as this is the 4th film after all.
I look forward to Beverly Hills Cop 5, please don’t bring back the microwave CD player machinegun. But maybe bring Axel’s ex-wife back, or maybe even the fact the Disneyland-like place at the end of the 3rd film made a mascot based off of Axel. At least give that a mention!
