Weekend Watch: Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F

Eddie Murphy's back on the beat

Image Credit: Netflix

Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, where I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, Eddie Murphy’s Axel Foley returns to Beverly Hills. Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite and Threads/Instagram: @jammerwhite

For personal reasons, the theme of estranged fathers has been very much on my mind for a couple of days. Which slightly colours my thoughts on the long-in-development Beverly Hills Cop film. It’s part of the story that Eddie Murphy’s wise-cracking police officer Axel Foley is drawn back to Beverly Hills because his lawyer daughter Jane (Taylor Paige) gets into trouble with some very bad people.

Whatever the reason, it’s just good to see Axel back bringing his particular brand of chaos back to Los Angeles’ glitziest city, and to have Murphy returning to the role that helped make his big-screen career. I’m happy to report that while the resulting film is far from perfect, it’s about as good a legacy sequel as you could hope for from a franchise that has been away from screens for 30 years. And in certainly more entertaining fashion than the misbegotten third instalment in 1994 (which is given a fitting dig here).

Making his feature debut, adverts director Mark Molloy acquits himself with some style here, channelling Tony Scott (who handled 1987’s Beverly Hills Cop II), working from a script cracked by Will Beall, Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten. It can’t compete with the first two entries, and the plotline is almost entirely throwaway (you’ll realize who the villain is the minute you meet them), but it’s definitely watchable.

The creative team blends the classic cast you might hope to see –– Judge Reinhold, John Ashton and even Bronson Pinchot –– while not neglecting the newbies. Paige has solid, spiky chemistry with Murphy, while Joseph Gordon-Levitt is good fun Detective Bobby Abbott, who ends up partnered with Axel, albeit sometimes reluctantly. Even more than Paige, the duo has an entertaining dynamic.

It might not be on the level of, say, Top Gun: Maverick (even if it borrows a couple of ideas from it), but Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F certainly doesn’t embarrass itself.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is on Netflix now.