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BEVERLY HILLS COP: AXEL F EAGERLY AWAITED SEQUEL
The heat is on once again for Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy, right) in this new movie sequel, but it’s a different kind of burn for a man in his 60s. The detective cuts a more mature figure in the longawaited fourth outing, which arrives 40 years after the original and finds the 63-year-old trying to save his estranged daughter in Beverly Hills. The film features many familiar faces and some eye-popping action – including chases with a helicopter and a snowplough – but it wasn’t easy to get to this point.
The original Beverly Hills Cop hit cinemas in 1984, when Eddie Murphy was one of Hollywood’s hottest rising stars. A fast-talking stand-up with a genius for improvisation, the 23-year-old had two hilarious roles under his belt (48 Hrs and Trading Places) when this fish-out-of-water story turned him into a global superstar. In today’s money the film took
$700 million at the box office, which is the kind of return modern execs can only dream of when releasing an action comedy free of aliens or superheroes.
Two sequels followed Axel’s further adventures, the second of which even Murphy didn’t like (describing working with the shaky script as like ‘sending a ship out of port with a hole in it’), along with a TV revival that fell apart and ideas for a fourth movie that came and went. Murphy wanted to wait until the script was right, for the movie to not just be ‘thrown together to get a big cheque. I don’t need any more of those’.
It was the return of producer Jerry Bruckheimer to the franchise that brought things into focus, according to Murphy. A script from EX-LAPD detective Will Beall (Bad Boys: Ride Or Die) helped, too, recapturing the grit and humour of the original, and setting a bedrock for the returning cast.
And, boy, if you’re a fan of the original then you’re in for a treat in that regard – John Ashton and Judge Reinhold are back as Taggart and Rosewood, Axel’s original partners, as is Bronson
Pichot as the hilarious Serge, the art gallery assistant with the unplaceable accent. Mad About You’s Paul Reiser returns as Jeffrey, Axel’s old Detroit partner, too, and there are two highprofile additions: Joseph Gordonlevitt (Inception) as Axel’s new partner, also a sensitive sort – so expect friction there – and Kevin Bacon as a tough police boss.
Axel causes problems for both on screen but the actors only have good things to say about working with Murphy. ‘He had me laughing between takes many times,’ reflects Bacon, while Gordonlevitt puts it simply: ‘Some movies are hard work. This one wasn’t.’ Taylour Paige, who plays Axel’s daughter (left, with Murphy), had a different relationship with the star. She had watched his movie The Nutty Professor nearly 100 times, and kept quoting it at him. ‘He’d look at me like, “Not again”, but also cracking up.’ So much seems to have fallen into place for this revival, and the only shame is that it’s not being released in cinemas. Comedies are much more fun to watch together, after all, and many people have fond memories of the original (also on Netflix) – so that sounds like the perfect excuse to invite some friends over, watch both films and make a night out of it.
The film features familiar faces and eye-popping action, such as chases with a helicopter and a snowplough