At this point, Eddie Murphy is a cultural institution — a powerhouse comedian and performer who cultivated a career based on lewd jokes, bombastic action and a frenetic, electric delivery. In 1984, he brought unto the world the fast-talking, anarchic cop, Axel Foley, and now, 40 years later, he returns with Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, the fourth entry in the Beverly Hills Cop series.
Apart from Dolemite Is My Name, Dreamgirls and the Shrek series, Murphy's career since the mid-'90s has been checkered at best and abysmal at worst, and his significance has waned considerably since those days of plenty. Still, his turn as Dolemite was damn near inspiring, and the lack of a very well-deserved Oscar nomination will forever be a travesty. Although Axel F is an entirely unnecessary action-comedy sequel, it at least sees Murphy having fun with one of his most well-known and beloved creations. He messes with people constantly as a sneaky and perpetually wise-cracking smartass who, somehow, after 40 years of chaos, still hasn't been fired.
The film places its titular protagonist in a 21st century context where police are no longer seen as bumbling, fearless or loose-cannon heroes. Instead, Foley has familial issues. When his estranged daughter Jane (Taylour Paige) is threatened by a group of masked thugs, Foley teams up with a new partner, Detective Bobby Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), as well as some old ones (Judge Reinhold and John Ashton) in order to expose a conspiracy within the Beverly Hills Police Department.
Although their relationship is strained, Jane joins her father on the mission, which brings them into very close contact with the corrupt Captain Cade Grant (Kevin Bacon) and his many goons. Unfortunately, this father-daughter relationship is cliché and unremarkable, helped little by Murphy and Paige's lack of chemistry. Paige, a fantastic performer in her own right, does her best with the flimsy dialogue and overwrought sentimentality, but their constant wave of "we love each other"/"we hate each other" grows incredibly thin by the time the inevitable reconciliation occurs, and it never feels like there are any stakes. We know it'll all work out in the end.
It's impossible to review Axel F without contextualizing and comparing it with the Beverly Hills Cop films released in Murphy's '80s and '90s heyday. Axel F takes the best (and worst) of the first three films — the rebellious, anarchic spirit of the first installment; the convoluted (and somewhat dull) plotting of the second; and the self-aware silliness of the trilogy's finale — and filters them all through a post-modern, meta-heavy lens. Even some of the more laboured storytelling can be forgiven, since the Beverly Hills Cop series was never the best-written work of Murphy's career, but his unbridled charisma kept these films interesting and (re)watchable.
Naturally, the film throws back to many of the tropes, images, moments, jokes and tunes from the earlier films: the big set pieces, just the right amount of cursing, the same opening song and the classic synthtastic theme song, the title font and, of course, Judge Reinhold. It's always great to see Reinhold, but he's sadly underused here, and he should absolutely be in more things.
Even though his performance is uncharacteristically wooden, Gordon-Levitt is a necessary addition to the proceedings, adding a modern, somewhat conscientious law enforcement presence that juxtaposes Murphy's unchecked masculine posturing. Foley is still crude, destructive and quick-thinking, but he's also a dinosaur trying to survive in a very different world. In fact, he's never been this close to getting charged with reckless endangerment!
Although the earlier films confronted race and policing very sporadically, its presence is more explicitly felt in Axel F. Early on, after some vehicular carnage, a pair of arresting officers tell Foley to keep his hands up and not reach for his badge. In response, he says, "I've been a cop for 30 years. I've been Black a whole lot longer. Trust me, I know better." While it's certainly not a radical statement, the commentary in that one line is much more considered than anything presented in the first three films, and it would be impossible for anyone involved in Axel F to ignore the present social and political climate regarding police, or to deny such a moment.
Unfortunately, not only does the film fail to effectively critique police tactics or corruption (or the systems that support it), the passing, patronizing references feel like they're satisfying contemporary sensibilities, rather than acting as sincere — or effective — criticisms. It's clear the film wants to steer clear of those problematic dynamics in favour of fun and action. And yet, even in a comedy, this is irresponsible and naïve.
The film is unsurprisingly the longest in the series (it is 2024, after all), and while it certainly doesn't earn its almost 120-minute runtime, it delivers a few laughs and explosive thrills. Much like Beverly Hills Cop II, though, Axel F is a film where, if you miss a minute, a lot won't make sense, despite the fact that the pace it cuts is nowhere near as quick as it should be. The content is thin, as is the plotting, but at least Murphy doesn't phone it in.
Ultimately, Axel F is a pointless, overstuffed and altogether irrelevant sequel. When a film and a character rely this heavily on boomer nostalgia, it's time to let him ride off into the muggy L.A. sunset. And while Murphy could do a whole lot worse (see: The Adventures of Pluto Nash, A Thousand Words, Norbit, You People, Coming 2 America), the rest of us can certainly do a whole lot better than the mindless, forgettable "amusement" of Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.