The "Beverly Hills Cop" Franchise

[StevePulaski]

Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
Directed by: Martin Brest

Rating: ★★★

Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) is a reckless, wise-cracking Detroit cop, whose young, streetwise-mentality comes in handy in a force of aging white guys. After his childhood friend is murdered, Axel assigns himself to investigate the murder, despite harsh opposition from others on the force. He travels to Beverly Hills to work for the Beverly Hills Police Department and turns the force upside down with his aforementioned character traits.

Murphy is ideal for the role of Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop. Murphy's mile-a-minute conversational humor and rapid-fire wit keeps things moving at a breakneck pace, and the man has enough charisma to keep a story like this moving. Furthermore, writer Daniel Petrie, Jr. makes sure to give Murphy an ample amount of screentime so his Axel Foley character rise is given moments to be fiercely likeable and someone we grow to like.

And even after giving us an energetic central character, Petrie, Jr. is sure to give us terrific action sequences. For example, the film opens with a fantastic chase scene between numerous police cruisers and a large, eighteen-wheeler carrying dozens of cartons of Lucky Strike cigarettes with Axel being thrown every which way in the back of the truck. The scene goes on for about three minutes and possesses the same kind of excitement and practicalness of The Blues Brothers's famous action scenes in the regard that digital effects don't seem to be interfering with the film every chance they get.

Instead, the chase scene feels much more natural and real because of the fact that it's as if we're watching a real-life car chase on TV. Another scene similar to this one is the shootout scene between Axel and two other detectives and several other goons using high-powered machine guns. The scene operates like a realistic shootout and is simply a lot of fun to sit back and watch.

Another thing levying the entire film is the soundtrack, which blends the likes of electric pop and techno music that allows for an exciting mix of things. For 1984, this was an uncommon thing, and the film's frequent use of one specific techno song allow for a nice consistency and an inane catchiness to the film all around.

The Beverly Hills Cop franchise is an interesting footnote in film mainly because all three films are directed by three different directors, who've had strong and prolific experience in the action genre. The first sequel was directed by Top Gun director Tony Scott, while the second sequel by John Landis, who directed The Blues Brothers. As for this film, Martin Brest mans this ship, a man whose entire career has pretty much been devoted to action comedies that pack a wallop. His camerawork and filmmaking techniques are continuously impressive, and with the help of Daniel Petrie, Jr., the story at hand never becomes shackled by the confines of dreary storytelling or even a romance. In a world where it seems buddy cop films can barely establish actor/character-chemistry and a credible plot, it's almost shocking to see what Beverly Hills Cop does and does so well.

Starring: Eddie Murphy. Directed by: Martin Brest.

[StevePulaski]

Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)
Directed by: Tony Scott

Eddie Murphy returns as Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop II.

Rating: ★★½

If there were ever a sequel to almost, almost succeed entirely on the charisma and charm of its lead actor, it would be Beverly Hills Cop II, the sequel to the unexpected action-comedy surprise of 1984 that skyrocketed at the box office and made actor Eddie Murphy a high-profile name. It also helped kickstart the career of Martin Brest, a highly underrated director who went on to do films like Meet Joe Black and Midnight Run. The film helped the careers of several involved, and the main problem with the sequel is that it operates as if its predecessor never existed in the strangest possible way.

Before elaborating on that, Murphy reprises his role as Detroit police detective Axel Foley, who teams up once again with Beverly Hills detectives Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and John Taggart (John Ashton) to stop a gun-smuggling gang after the department's captain is shot and seriously wounded. Of course, when working with Axel, it's never a dull day, as Axel uses his wiseguy attitude, motormouth tendencies, and exaggerated emotions to further himself in the Beverly Hills life, which he learned in the last film, is much different than the kind of "street operations" that are conducted in Detroit.

The issue at hand here is that Beverly Hills Cop II, despite undergoing a change in writers and a change in director, simply feels like it's trying to replicate success rather than trying something different with the formula. Even with the visual artist and the dazzling-effects manager of Tony Scott in the director's chair, providing Beverly Hills Cop II with a distinct look and hue in the visual department, the film never feels like it wants to take any chances or provide us with some daring, more elaborate instances that would make it standout rather than seem almost like a remake of its predecessor.

The person to thank for not making this feature as glaringly obtrusive as it could've been is definitely Eddie Murphy, who simply doesn't change and doesn't need to. Murphy has such a zippy and energetic comedic flow and talent that his abilities translate beautifully to a sequel, as he winds up giving probably one of the strongest comedic performances in comedy history in the last two films. Murphy's hilarity is only heightened when Larry Ferguson (writer for The Hunt for Red October) and Warren Skaaren (writer for the original Batman and Beetlejuice) create a scene that he can steal without almost any effort, commanding the entire set with his trademarks and his energy. With those scenes, Murphy becomes an unmatchable force of comedic wit.

It's a shame the film surrounding Murphy isn't as good as Murphy himself. Outside of its core performance and immersing visual style, Beverly Hills Cop II lays dormant as it is overtaken by a cookie-cutter, forgettable plot and a setup that feels too close to the original to succeed just as well as it did the first time around. Axel Foley is a memorable comic character and Murphy is an amazing comic spirit; both persons deserve more than Beverly Hills Cop II can offer them in a grander term.

Starring: Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, and Ronny Cox. Directed by: Tony Scott.

[StevePulaski]

Beverly Hills Cop III (1994)
Directed by: John Landis

Eddie Murphy's Axel Foley goes undercover in Beverly Hills Cop III.

Rating: ★★

Beverly Hills Cop III is littered with a lack of inspiration and excitement when, considering its genre, it should be overflowing with those attributes. It's so uninspired and redundant that it actually makes me recall its unremarkable but not wholly irredeemable predecessor with a certain fondness. Its predecessor suffered from a lack of interest in trying anything new with its material, but at least it featured a strong performance by Eddie Murphy and some engaging direction by Tony Scott. This film can barely muster up the energy to make you want to watch it until the end credits.

The film, once again, concerns Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy), the wise-cracking street cop who was ejected from the streets of Detroit, where every bad neighborhood was dealt with the "hard knocks" way to Beverly Hills, where affluence and extravagance takes place. But even in the wealthy area comes crime, as we learn about a band of counterfeiters who are rampantly printing money and are also responsible for the murder of Foley's boss. With his best friend and partner Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) by his side at all times, Axel begins scoping out a local theme park by the name of Wonder World, which is the likely source for this criminal activity. The problem is that the theme park is patrolled around-the-clock by corrupt security officials and guards, aware of the illegal activity at hand, but uninterested in reporting it, and making Foley look like a delusional, mentally unstable man for thinking so (not hard, when you run around wailing a gun and shouting).

The first film in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise was a big winner in my book, bearing frequent laughs due to Eddie Murphy's constant, zealous comic ability and delivery combined with Martin Brest's terrific direction, which blended the action and comedy together fittingly and excitingly. The sequel, on the other hand, had some considerable charm, given Murphy was still on top of his game and changing directors from Brest to Tony Scott wasn't a bad move, given Scott's incredible ability at action setpieces, however, the film had a frustrating inertness when it came to wanting to try something new and different.

With the third film, all energy and hope is lost, starting with a criminal move by writer Steven E. de Souza to undermine Murphy's comedic talent, giving him a more traditionalist, interchangeable cop persona rather than one that has ability to excite or provide substantial comedy. Murphy looks tired and ferociously unamused with the film, as if de Souza wrote the Beverly Hills Cop III in a vindictive manner, not giving any thought to what made the first two films click so well to even warrant the creation of a third film. In addition, the action just isn't there from a directorial standpoint, which is shocking considering John Landis was the man behind the camera, the same man who made The Blues Brothers such a powerhouse flick in terms of its action setpieces.

It's as if you took Hollywood's two most promising names at the time and made them do something they would normally do in such a lackadaisical manner. In addition, the time period doesn't feel right either. Shot ten years after the first film kickstarted this franchise in 1984, Beverly Hills Cop III feels stuck in the wrong era, as the famous theme song "Axel F" begins to take on aggravating, repetitive heights after blending so well with the cheesy, eighties aesthetic in the first two films. Not to mention, cheesy eighties cop films were a staple, where most nineties films of the same genre feel like cloying ripoffs or inferior distractions from the abundance of capable ones we once witnessed.

There's one great scene in Beverly Hills Cop III, which takes place in Wonder World after a gigantic, complex roller-coaster ride stopped working due to park/security incompetence. Foley has to resort to saving two young children, stuck on the ride, about to fall to their deaths by almost cheating death, climbing all over the ride in every which way. The scene is suspenseful and works, so much so, that I would've rather seen Murphy rescue the other ten, eleven, or twelve people on the ride for the remaining hour or so than endure what mediocrity Beverly Hills Cop III threw at me.

Starring: Eddie Murphy and Judge Reinhold. Directed by: John Landis.