It’s been a long haul but the fourth Beverly Hills Cop film has arrived and the latest attempt to resurrect an old franchise. Thankfully IV wasn’t a film that really arrived as a surprise, this is one that has been a couple of years off for the last 20 years.
To catch up, let’s do a shakedown, breakdown of the franchise so far.
Beverly Hills Cop (1984) – The original. It’s safe to say that the original is the perfect example of an action comedy done right, well, if I was to find fault then it would be action being a little light following the strong opening action sequence. Murphy knocks it out of the park with an unrelentingly funny portrayal as the smart talking, highly cunning cop Axel Foley who everyone can get behind. There is a bevy of fun characters including Billy, the gullible and impressionable rookie, Taggart, the older, slightly highly strung by-the-book cop. There’s Jeff, Axel’s pain in the ass “friend” from Detroit and Jenny, Axel’s bestest friend in the whole wide world.
Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) – The obligatory sequel. A simple and fun follow-up that doesn’t work too hard to differentiate from the original and this was its biggest criticism. Billy is back, with a little character growth, he’s a gun nut now. Taggart… is the same. Jeff has a bit more to do and helps from afar. Jenny, Axel’s bestest friend in the whole wide world doesn’t appear, Axel doesn’t even call her to say he’s in town.
Beverly Hills Cop III (1994) – The one that should have been good. I will suggest that, in its favour, that III balances the action and comedy well. There are some solid action sequences here and the comedy… well on paper some of the ideas are pretty funny. It just doesn’t fit together well. Billy is captain now and this feels like a last minute role switch as Taggart was unable to return. Taggart replacement Flint has a few moments that feel like they would suit Billy. Jeff skipped this one as well and the character of Levine feels like a fill in. As much as III doesn’t work it occupies a weird place that I do feel I need to revisit to see if it’s any better, it never is. I think at this stage Jenny had removed Axel from her Facebook.
Beverly Hills Cop (2013) – The one that no one saw. This was a pilot for a TV show with Axel and his son Aaron fighting crime and test audiences. Billy was the only other returning character and it’s really surprising that this wasn’t picked up given that it’s directed by Barry Sonnefield. One can only hope that this pops up as an extra on collectors edition one day, much like L.A. Confidential saw on a recent Blu Ray. IV contains a line that his daughter Jane is Foley’s only child so it’s safe to assume this will be lost to time, however, Axel does mention to Aaron that his mother is a “mean ass” woman, similar to the line he drops to Jane. I’m wondering if Jenny is dead at this stage… or could she be Aaron’s mother and Axel is avoiding her for child support arrears!!!!
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F feels a lot like the recent Ghostbusters relaunch pulling as many characters as possible back in, however, it doesn’t use them as a springboard for a new cast to take on the franchise. Instead we catch up with some old pals and it’s a nice experience to spend some time with them again. Each character has their moments and whilst some changes have been made it’s all mostly agreeable.
One of the most notable changes was Paul Reiser’s character of Jeff. A pain in Axel’s side in the first two films and the two are now solid buds with photos together as beat cops. Gone is Axel’s funny and blunt approach to Jeff’s advice. Billy’s character bookends the film and is absent for the majority which is a real shame. Taggart is thankfully back and whilst John Ashton is in his mid 70’s he’s still a top bad ass. Also, Bronson Pinchot returns as Serge, a character from the original and III, however, the return in III was enough nostalgia for the character.
Another familiar face that shows up is Christopher McDonald as Shooter McGavin! With Netflix snagging the Happy Gilmore rights and a sequel on its way the mind boggles at the idea that Happy Gilmore and Beverly Hills Cop are in the came universe. Additionally there are a couple of cameos to keep interest from waining from Affion Crockett and a crooning Luis Guzmán.
Kevin Bacon walks in and is instantly the villain, and he is fun. Bacon has been honing his villain characters for a number of outings lately, with X-Men, R.I.P.D, Cop Car, Super and a few others over the last decade. He nails it, even managing a couple of laughs (“Pull Over… I mean land!” during the helicopter chases) and the vent escape sequence from the police station.
The other new face here is Bobby played by Joseph Gorden-Levitt who becomes Avel’s ally with links to Jane and gives the two something to do. On the one hand, the character is pretty unnecessary and surplus to the growing collection of folks on team Axel. Gordon-Levitt is good fun and undaunted by the task of being the new kid in class. The character doesn’t have much in the way of an arch other than to help Foley and romance Jane.
There is some family drama throughout the film with a Die Hard/Indiana Jones-esq relationship issue to iron out. The writing here is flimsy at best, however, it’s not what the audience is here for and simply slows the pacing down. Taylour Paige plays Jane and there is little in the way of details regarding her mother. Paige is roughly 35 at the time the movie was released so a rough guess would have Jane being conceived between II and III. It’s a shame there wasn’t a bit more of a conversation about their family as Murphy wanted Foley to have grown up a good bit in III and developed a relationship with Janice in that film, and given Foley’s comments about Jane’s mother, it’s safe to assume it isn’t the lovely Janice. Perhaps a fifth film would introduce the character.
On the topic of Jane, you might be relieved to find out that the character isn’t a mirror image of Axel, nor is she interesting enough for this to be considered a passing of the torch. The moments they are together are the weakest in the film, moments where Axel’s quirky nonsense is failing to gain him access to a location as he is tired and losing his touch is reinforced by her creative input, however, between them there is nowhere near the same level of clever scripting as to the first 3 films.
Then there is the action. Axel is in his 60’s and as such isn’t in the best place to realistically go up against the villains in fist fights and gun fights. Instead, as with Indiana Jones, there are a slew of chases whereby Axel is in control of something silly, a golf cart, snow plough, police scooter thing and we have to dispense with belief for a few minutes as he manages to find the speed to pursue or evade a modern car.
There is a story in IV however, you will be excused if you missed it. The plot is devised entirely to give Axel, Bobby and Jane reasons to get up to fun hijinks, run into crazy characters and almost cause Taggart to have a coronary. Keeping a scant plot is wise, however, it might have been more interesting than the relationship issues that are more prevalent.
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is good fun. It doesn’t try to be great cinema and the franchise never has. III lowered everyone’s expectations going into this and that works in IV’s favour. Like Star Wars: The Force Awakens there is a whiff of retreading the first and second film’s course but it’s unique enough to work on its own merits. This is a pretty successful outing and I would be happy if they left the franchise here. They won’t.
Netflix didn’t plaster the internet in oodles of posters with a mad advertising campaign thankfully, instead we had a few posters that slipped out slowly to drum up some excitement.
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is a Netlifx production and it is currently the best way to watch it. There is a physical disc in the pipeline for release later in 2024.
