As a seasoned cinephile with decades of movie-watching under my belt, I can’t help but feel a pang of disappointment upon witnessing the latest addition to the Beverly Hills Cop franchise – “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.” The fourth installment in this once beloved series is not about cinematic artistry or pushing boundaries, but rather about risk aversion.
As a passionate film enthusiast, I’d rephrase that in a more relatable and conversational way: In the fourth chapter of the Beverly Hills Cop saga, titled “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,” the focus isn’t primarily on filmmaking itself. Instead, it’s about managing risks and fears that come with financing a movie production. The movie industry has always been an unpredictable venture, with producers constantly trying to minimize financial losses or at least break even.
In 1994, the third installment of the “Beverly Hills Cop” series, titled “Beverly Hills Cop III,” underperformed significantly at the box office. Given this past experience, producers approached the production of the fourth film with caution and apprehension, taking over three decades since the last entry in the franchise to bring it to life.
As a film enthusiast, I initially imagined creating a Netflix-exclusive production to minimize distribution expenses. However, my excitement was dampened when I noticed an overabundance of familiar references from the first two installments in this fourth film. The same music from the original movies, particularly during chase scenes, played once more. Eddie Murphy’s character, Axel Foley, drove a massive truck during a chase scene – just as he did in the first two films. The mansion used for the shoot-out finale in the first movie and the large-scale truck area from the second movie made repeat appearances. Foley’s motivation to move to Beverly Hills due to a crime originating in Detroit was also revisited. It seemed that originality took a backseat in favor of rehashing what had worked before, with producers aiming for success by playing it safe and repeating past successes rather than taking risks on something new.
In terms of the acting and humor, the film was satisfactory but didn’t live up to the hilarity of the first two installments. Eddie Murphy and other returning cast members like Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Paul Reiser, and Bronson Pinchot failed to deliver the same level of comedy as before. Newcomers Kevin Bacon and Joseph Gordon-Levitt joined the franchise as a corrupt captain and detective respectively. However, they too didn’t add much to the overall comedic value. The storyline was predictable and lacked originality, with Axel Foley’s estranged daughter, played by Taylour Paige, being the only new addition. Sadly, this fourth film failed to bring anything fresh to the table, following a familiar pattern of shootouts in the same house as the first movie.
The Rotten Tomatoes score for this film is unfortunately only 65%, resembling the disappointing reception of Murphy’s latest sequel “Coming to America 2” on Netflix in 2021. Regrettably, my advice would be to skip this movie attempt at reviving another franchise.
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2024-07-18 16:38