Beverly Hills Cop - Axel F

A Piece Of The Axel

Beverly Hills Cop - Axel F
aka Beverly Hills Cop 4
Directed by Mark Molloy
USA 2024

Warning: Slight spoilers.

Axel Foley is back... finally. Played once more by Eddie Murphy, this movie completely ignores the pilot film for the proposed TV show and puts Axel F back on the streets as opposed to running the station, his TV son now swapped out for an estranged movie daughter (which, aside from the huge continuity errors made by conflicting events in the pilot movie, also screws up the third movie, where he had no children but the daughter is therefore a couple of years older than she should be here... if audiences can spot these things, why can’t the actual writers?).

The plot set up on Beverly Hills Cop - Axel F is simple but good fun. Billy Rosewood, played again by Judge Reinhold, is out on a case which will clear a suspect in jail from being a cop killer. But he gets too close and is kidnapped and held by ‘the bad guys’ to try and get the evidence they know he has on them. But not before he has engaged Axel’s daughter, played by Taylour Paige, to clear the suspect of the charges (she is a lawyer) and also not before he calls in Axel, because he’s worried for her safety after she is almost killed and threatened to drop the case (something he knows she won’t do).

Other series regulars include Paul Reiser who has now taken over from the former chief back in Axel’s regular stomping ground, John Ashton as Taggart, Billy’s ex-partner who is now running the precinct in Beverly Hills and a, not exactly surprising but welcome return of Serge in a scene, played once again by Bronson Pinchot. Also new to the cast, asides from Taylour Paige, is Joseph Gordon-Levitt as another cop in Billy’s precinct (who also has a dating history with Axel’s daughter), Luis Guzmán  as a criminal kingpin and Kevin Bacon as an FBI man who, you just know is going to turn out to be the villain of the piece as soon as his first scene hits.

And it’s a great little movie, it has to be said... harkening right back to the origins of the character (as released, not the Stallone version) with Eddie Murphy playing it relatively straight (asides from his usual wise cracks) and with an equal emphasis on action, rather than just comedy (just like in the original, when you actually cared about the characters somewhat.... which follows through here). It might seem a little slow at times to a younger audience expecting just endless carnage but it’s a nice little homage to the original and it pretty much hits all the right beats. You also get a snow plough chase and a helicopter chase thrown in for good measure.

One of the nicest things for me, though, was the music. Not just the brilliant score but also the use of songs. At least three of the songs were used front and centre in the first movie and, here, they’re used in a similar fashion. In fact, the first song of the movie is Glenn Frey doing The Heat Is On and it really brought back memories of me sitting in a cinema in the early 1980s with a dear, now departed friend. 

Similarly, the underscore is absolutely spot on. This time around they’ve got a modern composer who I quite like, Lorne Balfe... but he uses all of the old Harold Faltermeyer themes (such as Axel F, Shoot Out etc) and he orchestrates the synthesiser work, to my ears at least, exactly as Faltermeyer did in the first two movies. It’s absolutely brilliant.

So, yeah, a short review and my only problem with the movie is that it was funded by an evil ‘cinema killing’ company who have hogged it for their own channel rather than get the cinema release it deserves. I’m guessing this means I won’t be able to buy a copy on Blu Ray either, which is a problem for me (not an ‘official’ Blu Ray but there may be other options). At least a CD soundtrack is coming though, I believe (although I’d also like a CD for the third movie too, please). So, yeah, I’d almost rather the movie never got made than be financed and distributed by said evil corporation but, as it is, Beverly Hills Cop - Axel F is an absolutely wonderful and entertaining sequel and doesn’t let the original movies down in any way. Worth checking out, if only to remind yourself that Eddie Murphy can do some pretty good acting when he puts his mind to it. Just waiting to see if they do a Yet Another 48 Hours next.