Eddie Murphy is revisiting old material. No, it’s not another godforsaken Clumps movie. Instead, he’s returning to Axel Foley and Beverly Hills Cop.
The Guardian and Brit newspaper The Sun say Eddie has jumped on board Beverly Hills Cop 4 after seeing a rough outline of the film. In other words there’s no script, but he liked the ideas thrown at him well enough that he was willing to commit.
It’s been more than a decade since Eddie played Axel Foley, Beverly Hills Cop 3 debuted in 1994. Audience interest decreased steadily with each subsequent sequel following the original 1984 hit, but after more than a decade without Axel maybe it’s time to see him again. It would be easy to whine and moan about yet another Hollywood sequel, or to see this as yet another nail in the coffin of Eddie Murphy’s struggling career. But after giving us a break from the character, why not go back to him? Beverly Hills Cop was good, and most probably wouldn’t mind a nostalgic trip back to that world. Besides, Eddie could probably use the confidence booster.
For those of you unlucky enough to miss out on the 80s, Beverly Hills Cop starred Eddie Murphy as a freewheeling Detroit cop thrust into the cushy world of Beverly Hills policing. He brings with him to California a penchant for blowing things up, and a really funny laugh.
Murphy will show up in cinemas later this year as one of the leads in Bill Condon’s next movie, Dreamgirls. He’s also still making money hand over fist as the voice of Donkey. Work is already under way on the third Shrek movie, Shrek the Third.
