Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024)

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024)

 

5/10

Starring

Eddie Murphy

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Taylour Paige

Judge Reinhold

John Ashton

Kevin Bacon

Directed by Mark Molloy

 

Contains Spoilers

It was nice seeing the character Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) again, to see what he has been up to, since it has been thirty years since the last film in the franchise. This fourth Beverly Cop film, well, it is boring at times, but I can tell you it is better than the sequel Beverly Hills Cop two and three, and that is not saying much.

It is on Netflix, and I had to take a break to finish watching it, because I did not want to sleep off before seeing it through.

I think the main problem of the film for me is that the story seemed to be underdeveloped. I had issues with when Foley found out that Grant (Kevin Bacon) was the film’s main antagonist. He found this out when he went to an exclusive club and saw Grant with the people who he met in Billy’s flat and attacked him. Now, I do not expect him to do something at that moment, but this is Beverly Hills Cop, nothing ever goes according to common sense. As long as it makes sense for Axel Foley to do it, then it is ok in the Beverly Hills cop world.

The action in the film was welcoming, but they were too far apart, and we had to deal with too much talk. The trying to create a bond back that was broken between Foley and his daughter reminded me so much of Die Hard 4.

As you know if you have seen the older Beverly Hills cop movies, Axel always finds a way to get himself back to Beverly Hills to cause havoc. This time it was because his daughter’s life was being threatened. She took on a case and was threatened to drop the case. So, Axel jumped on a plane to Beverly Hills to help. The problem is, he and his daughter are estranged, and he was informed of the threat to her life, by his friend Billy, who asked him to come assist. Billy put her life in danger by asking her to represent a criminal who has been framed for murder.

Axel gets to Beverly Hills, and then we discover that Billy has been missing for some days. He meets up with his daughter and tries to rekindle their relationship, as they dig into this case to see how deep it goes, and to try and find Billy as it seems he knows more about this case than anyone else.

For me, the film lacked the needed spice to make it a film I will want to see again, but what I can tell you is, it stands better than the two previous sequels before it. Still, I can’t help but feel the movie missed a golden opportunity to bring the franchise back to life.