After starring in the surprising heartfelt and funny Coming 2 America and the modern classic Dolemite is My Name, I was looking forward to seeing Eddie Murphy return to streaming, this time as the iconic Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. Sadly, this is well below the heights of those films. Heck, it even suffers from comparison to the uneven Beverly Hills Cop sequels.
This time out, Detroit cop Axel returns to Beverly Hills when his buddy Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) goes missing. Axel reconnects with his estranged lawyer daughter (Taylour Paige), and together they uncover a plot involving dirty cops led by the shifty Captain Grant (Kevin Bacon).
Axel F isn’t exactly bad. It’s watchable and would probably play best as background noise. There just doesn’t seem to be a lot of drive or heart here. (The scenes of Axel bonding with his daughter curiously fall flat.) That wouldn’t necessarily matter if it was funny (I honestly think Part 3 had more laughs) or if the action was solid. However, it just seems like everybody is on autopilot. (Save for Bacon, who at least looks like he’s having fun.)
That sadly includes Murphy. That spark he brought to the other films is noticeably absent and his shtick is feeling awfully tired. It just hits different seeing a middle-aged man doing funny voices to get what he wants. In fact, the best scene in the film is when he stops his silly accent mid-sentence and says he’s too tired for this shit. Yeah, Eddie. We noticed.
I guess for some folks, just seeing Murphy slipping back into the role after a thirty-year absence and interacting with his old cohorts John Ashton, Bronson Pinchot, and Reinhold again will be enough. The nostalgic needle drops on the soundtrack will make you tap your toes and remind you of the good old days too. Unfortunately, nostalgia is about all the film brings to the table.
I thought this was a pretty enjoyable film.
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