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No boiling heat for Murphy's Beverly Hills Cop

Robin Holabird



The film returns Murphy to his most popular movie role as Axel Foley, a wise-cracking, smart-mouthed cop who defies protocol and gets things done while irritating all his superiors. Ramming up a middle finger towards acting his age—Murphy displays some Tom Cruise Maverick magic by running, jumping, and hurtling through action movie protocols when Axel hunts down bad guys who threaten his daughter. This means lots of chases as director Mark Molloy and a trio of writers (Danilo Bach, Daniel Petrie Jr, and Will Beall) run through unlikely options beginning with a snowplow and later featuring a three-wheeled parking meter car. Actually, when it comes to story, about three-quarters of the script only needed the words “insert chase here.” Another chunk focuses on bringing back cast favorites like Judge Reinhold and John Ashton from the first release and letting Murphy run on a riff, with a smidgeon of time left to the engaging additions of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Taylour Paige. Layering the soundtrack with the original’s hits like Glenn Frey’s “The Heat is On” or The Pointer Sisters’ “Neutron Dance” sends the fourth Beverly Hills Cop on its path towards nostalgia—though despite all those chases it feels more like an amiable amble than fuel induced rush.  

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© 2019 by Robin Holabird
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