Film Review - Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024)

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is the newest Beverly Hills Cop film and this time Mark Molloy takes the directors chair and Eddie Murphy is back as Axel Foley who is hot on the heels of some cartel guys when his old friend Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) goes missing but when he gets to Beverly Hills once again trouble stirs from both old friends and new allies one of them being his estranged daughter Jane (Taylour Paige)

A fourth Beverly Hills Cop film has been rumoured for many years going all the way back to the late 2000’s when Brett Ratner of all people was attached to direct it, now Molloy takes the reins and he has some big shoes to fill after Martin Brest and the late great Tony Scott’s work on the first 2 films and overcoming one of the worst movies ever made ever in John Landis’s Beverly Hills Cop 3 in 1994.

Happily, very happily he does a really good job here as I had a great time watching this movie and it seems like Jerry Bruckheimer of all people has been able to crack the code of how to do a legacy sequel properly with this, Bad Boys for Life and the most recent Ride or Die as well as Top Gun: Maverick in 2022.

And all of those films and this one understand that yes some things do change over time but some things do not, most notably the lead characters themselves, yes they’ll have aged and matured since their hey day in the 80s and 90s but when the time comes they still have their heroic moments and don’t go around constantly miserable about everything and becoming lonely old people where all of their character growth is undone because “we can do it better.”

NO, NO, NO and NO, this group of films is the way and Molloy does a great job balancing the comedy of Brest and the stylish look of Scott, some scenes in this film reminded me of the first film and others reminded me of the second film and when those soundtrack moments came on, I was a very very happy boy.

Next is Eddie himself and while he’s getting on in years, I never thought that he was too old to play Axel again and it feels like he picks up right where he left off after Beverly Hills Cop II in 1987 as he has some great action moments and comedy moments, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is also good as a young detective as is Kevin Bacon in a supporting role.

If I do have one complaint it’s that John Ashton as Taggart and Reinhold’s Rosewood don’t get as much to do and it’s a little disappointing as the main reason I loved Cop II was that the three guys were now working together as a group and the chemistry between the actors allowed the comedy to come out naturally in that film whereas here Axel is either with Jane or Gordon-Levitt’s character and I wish we got to see the 3 Beverly Hills Musketeers go all for one and one for all one last time.

That said however fans of the first 2 films will not be disappointed with this film as I certainly wasn’t and I think most fans will enjoy themselves as well, 3 and a half out of 5.