The Stream: Doesn’t capture the energy of the other movies

The Big Screen: Nice family therapy sessions.

The Final Bill: This late sequel lacks the energy of the previous installments.

– S2S: Movie Reviews
Director: Mark Molloy
Writers: Danilo Bach, Daniel Petrie Jr., Will Beall
Stars: Eddie Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Taylour Paige, Kevin Bacon
Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime
Rating: R for language throughout violence and brief drug use
Runtime: 1 hour 50 minutes
Production Companies: Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Eddie Murphy Productions, Netflix
Platform: Released on Netflix July 3, 2024
Coming Soon to Netflix: The Platform 2, Outside, Uglies, His Three Daughters, Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie, The Union, Incoming, The Deliverance

What’s up, Streamers! Eddie Murphy has been revisiting some of his classic movies by making these long-delayed sequels. We previously saw Murphy reprise his role in the Coming to America sequel. Now, Netflix has released a sequel to the Beverly Hills Cop movies 30 years after the last one. In Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, Murphy is back as Detroit cop, Axel Foley. After receiving a strange phone call, Axel returns to Beverly Hills to help his daughter when her life is threatened. Foley attempts to work with old pals, John Taggart and Billy Rosewood, to uncover a conspiracy, but things have changed. Dad jokes and car chasing hijinks ensue.

Let’s be honest, it is clear that every movie studio and producer has lost total interest in original thought. No one is even trying to create an original concept. They see a way to make money through reliance on nostalgia, and they just continue to make sequels and remakes of the same old mess. Here, we have a 30-year-old sequel. Do we need this? I mean, seriously, let it go! But, here we are. I have to say this because between Beverley Hills Cop I to III, you have one of the top comedians and comedic actors in his prime and you now decide to get that same person and bring back a lot of its cast for a movie on their way out. It just doesn’t capture the magic you had before and that’s the problem here. The movie tries to relive, call back, and revive the energy of the past and it just is not giving the oomph. Don’t get me wrong, I can see exactly why fans of the trilogy will like this movie but as an impartial viewer, the cast is old and tired. They can’t even give their lines the same way as they once did. I can’t say the writing was that much worse than before, but today’s “PC” culture does not lend itself to the comedy of the past. The only writing that does work are the talks about parent-child relations.

Now, let’s talk about the lackluster cast. Of course, Eddie does what he does but even that felt tempered. The most out of place member of the cast was, of course, Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I mean just poor casting. He’s out of place, underused, and the worst wig! He does have one scene that’s pretty solid. Taylour Paige, on the other hand, tries her hardest to keep this movie alive. She provides some beauty and spunk to this unoriginal storyline. The rest of the cast is forgettable and tired. The plot is predictable, forgettable and tired. There’s a chuckle here and there but that’s about it. Otherwise, this is the same as most cop movies where an outside cop comes to help a department, but things couldn’t be more obvious to figure out.

Not to belabor a point, but Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is the most middle of the road movie you can find. The movie tries to revive a franchise that needed to stay dead. The cast puts little energy into the screen and the story is boring at best. The movie is just like another solo cop movie, but it doubles as a family therapy session. Grab a handful of popcorn before turning to Netflix to watch this film.