A Review of Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F

All it takes a few shoot outs to make your estranged daughter talk to you.

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All it takes a few shoot outs to make your estranged daughter talk to you. 💥💥💥

I got to check out Eddie Murphy's new Beverly Hills Cop movie titled Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. I always thought it was strange seeing a Black man having the name "Axel" despite watching four movies about this specific character since 1984. This is exciting because I get to write my first review of what movie critic Bob Chipman (@MovieBob) calls a "Dad Movie." 

"Hard bitten action dramas starring gracefully aging older male stars as omnicompotent badasses who solve their problems through methodical masculine determination and nigh super human fighting prowess implicitly the result of their life experience and having survived into the weak and wimpy present from an age when men were men... 

Wow... Moviebob talks a lot. 

That's what this movie felt like. With a one-hour and 55-minute run time, it's “too much of a slog for the theater but just long enough slog for a Saturday afternoon Lay-Z-Boy viewing." That's a Dad Movie. That is why I'm 100% sure my dad is will love this movie just like he loved Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Denzel Washington's The Equalizer, and Outlaw Johnny Black.

We don't have to talk much about those other movies, but Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. was fun. It had all the violence, betrayals, and gracefully aging stars a Dad Movie needs. Before getting into the nuts and bolts of this film, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F has incredible music. It harkens back to the first Beverly Hills Cop film and uses the same songs to recapture the feeling you had when you saw the first one. The 80s-tinged music made me feel like I needed to go pick up the latest Cindy Lauper album at the local record store. They take all the Bob Segar, Glen Frey, and Pointer Sisters songs used in the first film and time travel them 40 years to right now.

Eddie Murphy started off as an amazing comedian. In the 1980’s he was doing it all. He was on Saturday Night Live, Eddie Murphy Delirious, made Trading Places, 48 Hours, Eddie Murphy Raw, and Coming to America. He was also punching Rick James’ legs, hanging out with Prince, and making his own music. He was an unstoppable force of comedy for an entire decade and an additional 5 years. Only Richard Pryor could do something like that (and he did). My father used to say he stopped watching Saturday Night Live because Eddie Murphy left the show. For 15 years, every movie he put out was one my family would move heaven and earth to watch. I was a huge fan of Harlem Nights. My younger sister had an infatuation with Boomerang. My little brother wasn't around until 1999 and wasn't around for any of that, but even found his way into the Sould Glo that was Coming to America. In the VCR era, my parents forced me and my sister to stay in a bedroom while they watched Eddie Murphy Raw with my aunt and uncle. This was weird because my dad used to riff off Delirious jokes all the time! “Now that’s a fire!”

The last Beverly Hills Cop movie came out in 1994. That's 30 years since we've been treated to the life and times of Axel Foley. I was so excited when it finally came out. I expected more curse words and car wrecks, but Eddie Murphy was jumping around an amusement park the entire time. I hated it. Almost everyone else hated it too. What I remember most from the film was a lack of curse words. Eddie Murphy was amazing at curse words so losing that bit of personality in Beverly Hills Cop 3 felt wasteful. 

If you're Eddie Murphy and curse like a champion, you should drop more f-bombs like he did in every other movie he had made up to that point. This is what unequaled fame will do to you. Take you from dirty word-filled punch fests with Nick Nolte in 48 Hours, to cursing under your breath after getting punched in the gut while wearing a theme park costume. Fame will change you. 

SHOULD I WATCH BEVERLY HILLS COP: AXEL F?

It depends. 

How much do you like Eddie Murphy?

Have you at least seen Beverly Hills Cop and Beverly Hills Cop 2? 

Do you strongly dislike Beverly Hills Cop 3 despite the George Lucas cameo?

Did Eddie Murphy's comeback inspire you in 2018 when he made Dolemite Is My Name?

Did you want to know what happened to Axel Foley? His theme song is always popping.

Yeah… that’s hot!

If your answers to these questions are positive, then you should absolutely watch Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. It's been a few days and it's already done well enough to get a sequel. I'm not sure what they'll call the 5th one of these movies. I hope they go with Beverly Hills Cop and the House of the Dragon or Beverly Hills Cop: The Death of Axel Foley. 

Regardless, if you like the ideas that brought you the first two movies, you're going like this one. Axel is a little more adult in this one. You get to meet Axel's daughter. Their relationship is terrible. Axel just loves the thrill of his job too much and never took his daughter and mother seriously enough to leave Detroit as it was too dangerous. Axel was right. All he does in this movie is heinous property damage every time even sniffs a car. Also who wants to get gunned down by "the cartel" while driving through Beverly Hills? Certainly not Axel Foley's wife and kid. 

So Yes! Go watch this Dad Movie... you'll love it.