The familiar scoring and characters will take you towards a welcomed trip down movie memory lane.
Eddie Murphy reprises his role as Axel Foley, the Detroit street-smart former con-turned-cop who, in the first film, went to Beverly Hills to figure out who killed his friend Mikey, ends up tracking down the killers, and befriends officers Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Stripes) and John Taggart (John Ashton, Gone Baby Gone, Midnight Run), who initially took him into custody for trespassing the would-be killer’s businesses.
Flash-forward to forty years later, and Axel Foley is still fighting crime and chasing criminals, especially early in the film. He suspects a robbery is about to go down at a Detroit Red Wings game he’s attending with a fellow cop. Foley’s policeman’s intuition pays off. After confronting the robbers at the stadium, a chase ensues. In true Foley fashion, he barrels down Detroit streets in a snow plow, eventually apprehending the criminals, but not without a slew of destroyed cars, traffic signs, poles, and terrified pedestrians in the midst. Foley’s now captain, formerly a detective in the original Beverly Hills Cop, is semi-furious and tired, played by funnyman Paul Reiser (Mad About You, Stranger Things); he’s over Foley’s antics and is ready to retire. Axel is about to challenge his captain when he receives a call from Billy Rosewood saying his daughter is in trouble. Foley’s daughter (Taylour Paige, Zola, Boogie), Jane Saunders, is a defense attorney in Beverly Hills and may be defending the “wrong” guy, according to the Beverly Hills Police Department.
Axel Foley finds himself again in Beverly Hills, ready to expedite the wheels of justice, cunningly and entertainingly. Upon entering the Beverly Hills precinct, we learn Taggart is now chief, and Officer Rosewood has become a private investigator — on the heels of exposing crooked Los Angeles cops. Enter Kevin Bacon’s character, Captain Grant. Oozing enough smarm and finesse, he can make playing a crooked cop an Olympic sport. And Kevin Bacon always seems to add a layer of depth to any film he’s in. Debate me if you’d like.
But Foley’s return isn’t smooth sailing. His daughter wants nothing to do with him since they are estranged. Foley’s daughter, Jane, works for a prestigious firm defending criminals; this time, it seems to be a cop-killer. There’s a big conflict of interest between father and daughter.
Although Foley and his daughter are at odds, they team up with other favorite characters like Bronson Pinchot’s (Perfect Strangers, Risky Business) Serge, who’s still as funny and eccentric as ever. And newcomer to the Beverly Hills Cop franchise, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Don Jon, Looper). He’s ditched his clean-shaven, boyish look for a bearded mid-thirties millennial cop with daddy issues. Then there’s Axel Foley’s theme song that will be permanently etched in your brain as it was for me since childhood when I played it on my synthesizer.
According to Eddie Murphy, his loved ones can play the infamous Harold Faltermeyer-composed theme song at his funeral to make people smile, although his loved ones know he doesn’t want a funeral.
Watch this fun, action-packed Eddie Murphy flick, which is just as enjoyable as the first film forty years later. Don’t believe me? Rotten Tomatoes audience members gave it a higher rating than the original! Stream it now on Netflix!
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