Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F

Beverly Hills Cop is not a franchise that warrants deep analysis. It is a movie series thoroughly and doggedly rooted in the decade from which it was born, and it is equally anchored to its own particular contrivances. It is an action-comedy movie straight out of the 80's, complete with all the cheesy cliches that comes with; reckless cop who does things his way, angry boss who demands a badge and a gun when a cop crosses the line, and a case nobody else can crack involving a conspiracy that should be visible from space. Specifically to BHC, it also has to find a contrived way to get Axel Foley from Detroit to Beverly Hills. This is a formula it rode through three movies across the 80's and 90's to diminishing returns. The first movie was a lot of fun. The second was an obligatory "do it again!" sequel that was fine enough, but already felt shopworn thanks to dozens of clones coming out in between 1 and 2. The third was a tired rehash that happened because Eddie Murphy's career was stumbling and he tried to use a familiar IP to give his box office a jolt (it didn't work). So what would a fourth chapter in this story that didn't need to be a saga provide? A fourth movie. That's about it. Seriously, if you're looking for anything other than the BHC formula, you are kidding yourself. Yes, this movie adds some emotional pathos with a parent-and-child estrangement storyline (and uses it as the pretense to get Axel to Beverly Hills). And yes, Eddie Murphy looks more engaged with the material than he has since the first movie. The humor is fun, the action is fun, the whole movie is fun. It isn't anything more than that. But it also isn't trying to be. It's the fourth Beverly Hills Cop movie. This franchise has a groove, and expecting it to step outside of it is folly. It wants to be a throwback, it wants to be mindless fun, and it wants to revel in its formula and coast on the charm of its lead, and it does all that. If you have any expectations beyond "a fun, harmless two hours", that's not a failure of the movie, it's a failure of expectations. My bar for acceptance was "better than 3". I think it's the best since the original. That's good enough for me.