Netflix's Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. Review: Eddie Murphy’s Legacyquel Comedy Is Way Better Than You'd Expect… While Still Not Being Amazing

To be perfectly blunt, my expectations going into director Mark Molloy’s Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. were dig-a-ditch-at-the-bottom-of-a-well low – and entirely to blame for these feelings was Coming 2 America. Like many others, I had high hopes for an Eddie Murphy renaissance following 2019’s Dolemite Is My Name, but the actor/producer’s first crack at a legacyquel to one of his classic 1980s films was a disaster (despite the star reuniting with Dolemite director Craig Brewer). The 2021 movie makes some of the worst choices that can be made with a comedy sequel, most notably rehashing the original’s plot and making recycling jokes the core of its humor.

I braced myself for more of the same with Murphy’s latest effort… and I think that was ultimately a good thing. The movie isn’t exceptional in any specific way, and it features plot and character dynamics that we’ve seen in dozens of other works, but it’s entertaining in similar ways to the original Beverly Hills Cop. It executes a number of funny bits (including a couple of excellent cameos), develops exciting action within thrilling set pieces, and it has a proper light touch when it comes to franchise callbacks. It succeeds in all the key areas where Coming 2 America fails.

Written by Will Beall, Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. catches up with Detroit cop Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy), who is older, but very much up to the same wild shenanigans that drive his former-partner/now-deputy chief Jeffrey Friedman (Paul Reiser) nuts. He gets chewed out after causing wild amounts of damage commandeering a snow plow while going after a homicidal heist crew, calling his future on the streets into question – but his attention is abruptly diverted to Los Angeles, where his estranged daughter Jane Saunders (Taylor Paige) is in serious trouble.

A defense attorney, Jane takes on case involving the shooting of an officer referred to her by Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold), who has left the Beverly Hills Police Department, but has continued investigating the alleged crime. When Jane’s life is threatened and Billy goes missing, Foley flies in to bring to light a conspiracy – led by the sinister and corrupt Captain Cade Grant (Kevin Bacon) – and simultaneously repair his broken relationship with his only child.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. sports a number of cliches, but navigates them with a talented cast.

From that plot description, it should be clear that there are a whole lot of tropes in play in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. I didn’t even mention that Axel partners up with a clever, dedicated cop/former helicopter pilot (Joseph Gordon Levitt) who is also Jane’s ex-boyfriend. The clichés are tolerable, however, and not just because this is the latest installment of a franchise created in the decade that birthed so many of them. The movie is able to sell them in large part because of some really smart casting choices.

While I typically dislike it when legacyquels suggest that the characters have been essentially standing still in their lives ever since we last saw them, Axel Foley is a protagonist with the proper charisma, confidence and energy to make that believable in this case – and it allows for some real and understandable drama between him and Jane (Taylour Paige does a skilled job balancing the chip on Jane’s shoulder about her absentee father and showing that she has inherited his flair and tenaciousness). The film doesn’t overplay the awkwardness of Axel teaming with his daughter’s ex (it’s good for a few chuckles), and instead, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Det. Bobby Abbott ends up having a great comedic chemistry with his temporary partner, akin to, but not a carbon copy of Axel’s bond with Billy Rosewood in the original.

First time feature director Mark Malloy demonstrates some real skills with Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.'s set pieces.

A perfect example of this comedic chemistry is when Axel and Bobby strap into a helicopter to make a daring escape… and only too late does Axel discover that there is a very good reason Bobby is a former helicopter pilot. The uneasy aerial adventure that follows is a thrill – but also one of a number of exciting and ridiculous Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. unfurls. The snow plow smashing its way through the streets of Detroit proves to be an eye-opening way to kick things off, and the film is never too far away from a chase through Rodeo Drive in a meter reader cart or broad daylight assassination attempt. It’s Mark Malloy’s feature debut as a director, and he demonstrates an impressive eye for action and ear for timing.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. makes callbacks and references, but doesn't break the movie to make them.

The cherry on top is that the film doesn’t abuse fans as a legacyquel – which is to say that it doesn’t beat fans over the head with callbacks that grow from tired to exhausting (again, I’m looking at you, Coming 2 America). Not only does it not make a habit of bending over backwards to make some kind of reference, but it actually finds natural ways to fold series staples into the mix – Billy referring the case to Jane and getting abducted being prime examples. The synth-heavy score formulated around the iconic theme never lets you forget the world you’re living in, and it’s consistently fun to see Axel brashly enter a room and take on a whole new persona to advance his investigation/not die.

The movie does give into its worst impulses at the very, very end with a phony scene that only exists to mirror a classic setup from the original movie, but by that point in the cinematic experience, it’s allowable.

Eddie Murphy’s run on screen in the last few years has been a roller coaster, but Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. is a quality addition to his filmography and a welcomed addition to a beloved late-20th century franchise. It’s not the best legacyquel, but it’s unquestionably the best that Murphy has made.