Here’s how you
ruin a franchise.
Take a character who’s smart, witty, and has no regard for the rules, then turn
that knob up to the loudest setting. Next, take everyone else in the movie and
turn their knobs down. Beverly Hills Cop 2 is so out of place and
out-of-this-world silly that it’s impossible to believe the makers expected the
same critical acclaim as the
first movie. But studios couldn’t care less about that. If the movie
makes money, they’ll keep making more parts, and that is what they did with
this franchise.
Axel in this
movie was like a god—his IQ and foresight were incredible. Add his loud, witty
mouth, and you have an annoying character whose antics make you wonder why the
writers didn’t stick to the formula that worked in the
first movie.
The movie kicks
off with Axel (Eddie Murphy) getting dressed and feeling cool about himself as
he continues to swindle the Detroit Police Department to live a life above his
pay grade.
The captain from Beverly Hills, now a good friend of Axel, is working on a
case. Meanwhile, the new chief of police has a political agenda, and the
captain’s presence is a problem. The case the captain is working on gets him
shot and hospitalized, which prompts Axel to leave Detroit under false
pretenses and head to Beverly Hills to solve the crime.
Along for the ride are Det. Billy Rosewood and Sgt. Taggart, who are also
trying to bring down the people behind the attempted murder of their boss.
The movie ended
up being a financial success, just like the first, but it didn’t surpass the
first film’s earnings. On a budget of $20 million, the movie raked
in $300 million, largely due to the high anticipation from fans expecting it to
be just as good as the
first.
Other than
butchering the Axel character, the movie’s direction was questionable. At
times, I wondered what the director (Tony Scott) was going for—a comedy-action
or a drama-action film. Whichever it was, the movie didn’t deliver the
entertainment value you’d expect.
Plans for a
third installment were put together because of the movie’s huge financial
success, but the third part didn’t make as much as hoped. There are talks that
a fourth Beverly Hills Cop is in the works. I hope it makes the
necessary impact to revive the joy we got from the
first Beverly Hills Cop.
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