Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F
'Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F' Review – Eddie Murphy’s Star Power Shines in a Stale Sequel
It’s been 40 years since Detroit’s maverick detective Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) first stumbled into the glossy world of Beverly Hills, and 30 years since his last misadventure. Now, Foley is back in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, and it’s striking how little has changed. Murphy still carries the film with his trademark charisma, but the plot is largely recycled, feeling more like a rerun of past films than a fresh installment.
The formula remains the same: Foley causes chaos in an opening Detroit action sequence before heading to Los Angeles—this time motivated by a threat to his adult daughter. Once there, he wreaks more havoc, clashes with authority figures, and ultimately saves the day, proving his unorthodox methods right. While entertaining, this approach feels predictable and safe, relying heavily on Murphy’s star power rather than innovation.
Murphy’s magnetic presence remains the highlight, lifting the film beyond its otherwise formulaic structure. His charm, combined with high-octane chase scenes, keeps the energy up. However, the movie never recaptures the boldness and edge of his early career, opting instead for a safer, more comfortable version of Foley.
Hollywood’s love affair with familiar intellectual properties (IPs) plays a big role here. Studios, eager for a sure thing, often choose to bank on established franchises, making it easier for marketing departments to sell a film to a pre-existing fanbase. While this doesn’t guarantee a bad movie, the best reboots or sequels take risks, as seen in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie or the Planet of the Apes reboot series. Unfortunately, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F leans in the opposite direction, becoming a victim of nostalgia and caution.
This is most evident in the score, which leans heavily on Harold Faltermeyer’s iconic Axel F theme from the original film. While it provides an instant hit of nostalgia for fans of the first movie, the track feels painfully dated, evoking the 1980s so strongly that it might as well come with leg warmers and a boom box.
Despite these setbacks, there are a few redeeming elements. The film benefits from the combative relationship between Foley and his estranged daughter, Jane (Taylour Paige), a Beverly Hills defense attorney. Their dynamic is predictable—estranged children and troubled marriages are practically a staple in cop movies—but Murphy and Paige share an engaging chemistry that adds some emotional depth to the story.
The action sequences, directed by Australian commercial filmmaker Mark Molloy, are another strength. True to form, Foley commandeers a variety of vehicles, crashing them in increasingly chaotic ways. The car chases, along with a particularly fun sequence involving a snowplow, add bursts of energy whenever the plot starts to lag. These stunts provide some of the film’s most entertaining moments, even if they occasionally stretch the limits of believability.
At its core, Beverly Hills Cop has always been about giving Eddie Murphy space to dominate the screen. Now in his 60s, Murphy may have lost some of the raw aggression that fueled his early performances, but he remains captivating. He injects a surprising amount of life into material that has long since gone stale, reminding audiences why Axel Foley is still such an iconic character.
In the end, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is an entertaining but uninspired sequel. It offers enough laughs and action to keep fans of the franchise satisfied, but it lacks the innovation or boldness needed to make it truly stand out. Eddie Murphy still shines, but even his megawatt charisma can’t fully disguise the film’s creaky, paint-by-numbers approach.
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