Warning: Major spoilers for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F below!
Summary
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Fmakes a pointed jab aboutBeverly Hills Cop 3, but was this 1994 sequel truly that terrible? In a delightfully unvarnishedRolling Stoneinterview from 1989, Eddie Murphy was brutally honest about his career and the movie business. He dubbedBeverly Hills Cop 2"mediocre" and claimed the only reason to make a third entry was purely for money. Of course, the first twoBeverly Hills Copmovieswere hugely successful, making a third movie inevitable.
Beverly Hills Cop 3nearly transformed the franchise by sending Axel overseas, with different pitches taking him to London or Japan. Instead, Paramount opted to save costs and bring him back to Beverly Hills again to take down a counterfeiting ring inside a theme park.Beverly Hills Cop 3arrived at a low point in Murphy’s career, receiving terrible reviews and grossing less than half of the second movie, which came seven years prior.Axel Fis littered with homages to the first two movies, but nods to part three are notably rare.
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F Ending Explained
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F finds Eddie Murphy’s title character on his most personal case yet, and the sequel leaves the door open for another movie.
How Axel F Insults Beverly Hills Cop 3
Detective Abbott has notes on Axel’s Wonder World adventure
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is part ofBeverly Hills Cop: Axel F’scastas Detective Abbott, who was also in a relationship with Foley’s daughter Jane (Taylour Paige). When they meet for the first time,an amused Abbott runs through Axel’s past visits to Beverly Hills and shades his Wonder World misadventure as “Not your finest hour.”
This is a very meta comment on the third film’s reception and an acknowledgment it came close to killing the series. In truth,Beverly Hills Cop 3is deserving of its dire reception, as it misfires on almost every level. For the first 15 minutes it’s not so bad, but once Axel arrives in Beverly Hills, the quality nosedives. Director John Landis was a bad fit for the material, while Murphy’s attempts to make Axel more mature just made him boring.
The “Die Hard in a Theme Park” hook isn’t so bad, but the sequel’s humor is lame and the action largely underwhelming.Beverly Hills Cop 3also dropped characters like Taggart (John Ashton) and Jeffrey (Paul Reiser), whose absences were keenly felt. Perhaps the biggest sin of the 1994 entry is that it’s just plaindull, which is the absolute last thing an Axel Foley adventure should be.
$316,300,000
83%
$276,665,036
46%
$119,180,938
11%
N/A
Eddie Murphy’s dislike of the previousBeverly Hills Copsequelscaused him to back off the series. Over the years, he’s labeled the Landis sequel as “garbage,” and refused to sign for another installment unless it had a solid script. In truth, Murphy bears some responsibility forBeverly Hills Cop 3. Reportedly, he wanted to ditch the comedy in favor of action, and would undermine attempts to make his scenes funnier.
Murphy’s joyless turn inBeverly Hills Cop 3zaps many sequences of their comic potential, and the action doesn’t make up for it. He seemingly realized this in hindsight, since he’s dialed up the humor inBeverly Hills Cop: Axel F. It’s great fun seeing Murphy back in action-comedy mode, and hopefully, there’s at least one more sequel in his future. The fourth movie’sBeverly Hills Cop 3jab is pretty mild, considering Murphy himself has been harsher about it in interviews.
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F
Cast
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley is the fourth film in the popular comedy franchise starring Eddie Murphy. Murphy returns as Axel Foley in the Netflix film alongside returning cast members Judge Reinhold and John Ashton and Bronson Pinchot as Serge. Kevin Bacon and Joseph Gordon-Levitt also star in the sequel as new characters.
