Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024) unabashedly and unapologetically serves up a heaping helping of nostalgia for fans of the 1984 original and its two sequels. Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) hasn't changed much. He's still the wisecracking, irreverent, street cop with uncanny skills of observation and deduction, who is driven to follow through regardless of the risks or cost. Physically, Murphy hasn't changed much in the forty years since he first played Foley at twenty-four, beyond gaining a few pounds. However, his hair looks oddly unreal, to the point of distracting. By contrast, several of the actors reprising their roles seem quite a bit older. Perhaps it's a tribute to Murphy's healthy living and sobriety.
The car chases are much more elaborate and on par with some of the best contemporary action sequences. However, the plot is more in line with a 1970 television program - or the earlier Beverly Hills Cop movies.
The posters for the original feature Axel sitting on the hood of a red Mercedes Benz, holding an automatic pistol. The current film uses a similar image, but the pistol is held much more discretely. This time, Axel largely avoids firearms, even when one would expect a trained, experienced officer to have drawn. He flashes a weapon when he hijacks a vehicle for a car chase, but doesn't actually fire one until the final big shootout.
Perhaps the most challenging role is that of Jane Saunders, horribly miscast with Taylour Paige, who must play Axel's estranged daughter who grows to respect him, his reluctant sidekick, a high-powered criminal-defense attorney, and the former love interest of Detective Bobby Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), but is wooden and unconvincing in each role. She displays considerable anger toward Axel, but it isn't layered. She just sounds like an angry black woman railing against the establishment. There is zero chemistry between her and Abbott.
The screenplay tries to serve too many masters. As an action-comedy, it must straddle two genres, and incorporate nostalgic elements and cameos from the earlier films, bridge a forty-year gap, develop a backstory for a central character the audience hasn't seen before; develop a family drama that was never part of the franchise; maintain bromances between Axel and three characters he hasn't seen for years; and find time for social relevance, while yielding screen time to lengthy chase sequences and a gunfight. The result is a mishmash that is entertaining, but ultimately forgettable.
The car chases are much more elaborate and on par with some of the best contemporary action sequences. However, the plot is more in line with a 1970 television program - or the earlier Beverly Hills Cop movies.
The posters for the original feature Axel sitting on the hood of a red Mercedes Benz, holding an automatic pistol. The current film uses a similar image, but the pistol is held much more discretely. This time, Axel largely avoids firearms, even when one would expect a trained, experienced officer to have drawn. He flashes a weapon when he hijacks a vehicle for a car chase, but doesn't actually fire one until the final big shootout.
Perhaps the most challenging role is that of Jane Saunders, horribly miscast with Taylour Paige, who must play Axel's estranged daughter who grows to respect him, his reluctant sidekick, a high-powered criminal-defense attorney, and the former love interest of Detective Bobby Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), but is wooden and unconvincing in each role. She displays considerable anger toward Axel, but it isn't layered. She just sounds like an angry black woman railing against the establishment. There is zero chemistry between her and Abbott.
The screenplay tries to serve too many masters. As an action-comedy, it must straddle two genres, and incorporate nostalgic elements and cameos from the earlier films, bridge a forty-year gap, develop a backstory for a central character the audience hasn't seen before; develop a family drama that was never part of the franchise; maintain bromances between Axel and three characters he hasn't seen for years; and find time for social relevance, while yielding screen time to lengthy chase sequences and a gunfight. The result is a mishmash that is entertaining, but ultimately forgettable.
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