Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F 2024 Movie Review
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F uses the Top Gun: Maverick formula to make a legacy sequel that can easily leap past the weakest chapter in this franchise without coming close to the Oscar nominated original that started it all. It’s filled with callbacks to the original whilst nobly attempting to acknowledge the age of its characters and how times have changed since their last outing.
This is the most animated Eddie Murphy has been in one of these since the first instalment. His ability to create a character on the spot and his fast talking nature make a triumphant return but are very front loaded so there’s room for him to grow once he reunites with his daughter. Whilst Axel’s journey isn’t on the level of other recent returning characters, it’s still a solid arc.
It’s nice to have Judge Reinhold & John Ashton back with Ashton in particular really making up for his absence in the last one. It gives equal screen time to its newcomers with Taylour Paige taking the thankless job of having to be the straight one, Joseph Gordon-Levitt being as likeable as always, and Kevin Bacon entertainingly playing a villain so obvious the film doesn’t bother hiding it.
Considering he’s making his feature film debut with a $150 million franchise film, Mark Molloy does a good job overall. There are lulls in both the action and the comedy without it becoming boring and it’s really satisfying to see the bottomless pit of Netflix money employed on some large scale practical destruction and impressive helicopter stuff.
Composer Lorne Balfe finds greater success than his immediate predecessor in his attempts to remix Axel F throughout the film. In the rare moments it’s not playing with that masterpiece, it’s still keeping the synth elements alive and well with a soundtrack that’s on hand to cover any nostalgia that’s been missed by reusing most of the songs from the first film.
