In 1984 Eddie Murphy turned Beverly Hills Cop, film that was supposed to be serious police thriller, into action comedy by the sheer strength of his comedic personality. This resulted in one the biggest hits of its time and confirmed Murphy as the top Hollywood comedian of 1980s. Such success made sequel inevitable. Beverly Hills Cop II, 1987 film directed by Tony Scott, also shows that it was inevitable that such sequel, like many those films made in 1980s, would be inferior to the original.
Eddie Murphy returns in iconic role of Axel Foley, undercover police detective who uses street smarts to fight crime on the mean streets of Detroit. Three years ago after he went to Beverly Hills to solve the crime and befriended trio of local policemen in the process, Foley learns that one of those friends, Captain Bogomil (played by Ronny Cox) was shot and seriously wounded, apparently because of being on the trail of vicious armed robbers. Foley decides to return to Beverly Hills in order to help Detectives Billy Rosewood (played by Judge Rheinhold) and John Taggart (played by John Ashton) investigate the event. This task is difficult, because their boss Harold Lutz (played by Allen Garfield) is incompetent who transferred them to traffic duty. Foley with his ingenuity follows few clues to local gun club and wealthy oil businessman Alex Dent (played by Jürgen Prochnow) and his girlfriend Karla Fray (played by Brigitte Nielsen), who also serves as gang’s enforcer.
Many critics complained that Beverly Hills Cop II looked like a carbon copy of the original. Some of those complaints are valid, because film not only recycles much of the old cast, but also the basic premise of street smart blue collar Detroit policeman arriving to Beverly Hills to deal with elegant but wicked upper class criminals. Eddie Murphy is partly responsible for this lack of originality, because he refused suggestions to have a sequel set in another global metropolis like London or Paris, preferring familiarity of American soil. On the other hand, choice of director signalled that Beverly Hills Cop II would at least look little bit different. Scott directed film in fast, frenetic MTV-style fashion trying to stuff as much attractive visual content as possible, which includes expensive cars, luxurious mansions (including scene actually shot in Playboy Mansion with Hugh Heffner playing himself), beautiful women (some of them topless). Scott also gave much higher emphasis on action, which is much more spectacular and features gun fights, car chases and lot of pyrotechnics at the end.
While pleasing to the eye, Beverly Hills Cop II represents another 1980s triumph of style over substance. Script was purged of any depth, which includes lack of commentary on racial relations and class differences in 1980s America. Characters have been already introduced and, with exception of Rosewood who is given eccentric hobbies and Ramboesque fascination with military action, simply go through the motions. Unlike the previous film, Beverly Hills Cop II lacks proper villains, with Brigitte Nielsen wasting her imposing physique as forgettable villain, and same goes to otherwise great German actor Jürgen Prochnow. The only thing that holds film together and makes it watchable is, of course, Eddie Murphy. Although the script is bad, his improvisational skills and talent make couple of scenes and lines of dialogue sound brilliant. This is just enough for this film to be watchable, and was more than enough to make it one of top films of its time. Eddie Murphy returned to the character of Axel Foley seven years later in utterly disappointing Beverly Hills Cop III which, for all its flaws, make this one look like masterpiece in comparison.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
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