The Heat Is Back! Netflix Revives ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ Series with Summer ’24 Release
The heat is on with Netflix’s newest summer smash, a timely reboot to a beloved piece of 40-year-old property
Who ever said no to nostalgia?
Because lately, the trends have been pointing upward for the intellectual property classics. With the overwhelming success of “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” and its mammoth size performance at the box office (surpassing $165M domestically and $332M globally) , and with other ’80s and ’90’s blockbuster films getting an IV energy boost in the arm involving reboots such as “Roadhouse” (on Amazon Prime), “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” and the forthcoming features of “Twisters” (July 19), “Alien: Romulus” (Aug. 16) and “The Crow” (Aug. 23).
And all ears will be glued to the reprise of Harold Faltermeyer’ ’80’s synth-pop instrumental in the Mark Molloy-directed film, “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,” starring Murphy alongside Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Taylour Paige, Judge Reinhold and a returning John Ashton. Even ‘Perfect Strangers’ star Bronson Pinchot makes a return in the 2024 action flick. With nostalgia victories at an all-time high, Eddie Murphy, whose last major venture into film with Amazon Prime’s “Coming 2 America” (2021) proved to be a bust, is expected to make a rebound here. And what worked for “Bad Boys” can easily work for Murphy this time around. The very glossy buddy cop template that Will Smith and Martin Lawrence used in their comedy-action franchise is the stuff that Eddie Murphy perfectly developed. For something more dramatic, one only needs to look at his earliest ’80’s action blockbuster smash, 1982’s “48 Hrs.” Both films, along with the star-studded comedy “Coming to America,” turned Murphy into an overnight box office superstar in the 1980’s and transformed the one-time SNL standup comedian into the Richard Pryor of his generation.
Now 63, Murphy is reviving the Axel Foley character for the Gen Z’ers and playing the hits like a rad retro act. The new film produced by blockbuster king Jerry Bruckheimer finds the wise-cracking Detroit hero returning to 90210 to handle some family matters, putting him back in the hot seat. And like its predecessors, the motion picture soundtrack comes with plenty of heat. Other than a new track handled by Lil Nas X (“Here We Go!”), the aroma of nostalgia will be at an all-time high in the script as the soundtrack plays with familiar beats powered by the Pointer Sisters’ timeless synthpop-gospel mash on “Neutron Dance” along with Glenn Frey’s iconic rock-pop jam “The Heat is On,” two tracks lifted from the original ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ 1984 soundtrack. Also included are Bob Seger’s “Shakedown” (from Beverly Hills Cop II) and Billy Idol’s “Hot in the City,” which comes updated with a surprising Coi Leray rap verse. Lorne Balfe, who worked on “Argylle,” “Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part 1” and “Top Gun: Maverick,” lays the background with facsimiles of Harold Faltermeyer’s sexy electro, even bringing ‘The Lost Boys’ saxophonist Tim Cappello aboard.
This smorgasbord of neon-dazzled confetti from the 1980’s along with Balfe’s synth-dominating orchestral score pretty much sums up the agenda of ‘I Want My MTV’ revivalism here. “No one can accuse this film of not being true to the spirit of its progenitor, which again will be a big plus for nostalgists,” wrote The Hollywood Reporter in their early review of the film.
The fourth installment in the “BHC” universe, hits the streaming service of Netflix on Wednesday, July 3, just in time for the Fourth of July holiday. It follows the direct-to-streaming releases of films like the Jennifer Lopez-starring “Atlas,” the French shark horror “Under Paris” and the Nicole Kidman/Zac Efron-featured rom-com “A Family Affair” and is expected to be a streaming hit for the entertainment subscription giant.
This week, other than the stunning box office domination of the Pixar animated film “Inside Out 2,” the July 3 release of “Beverly Hills Cop” will face off with yet another theatrical release of another big property sequel to watch: A24’s ’80’s-deco-teased horror flick MaXXXine, the Ti West-directed trilogy finale that follows the Mia Goth-led predecessors of “X” and “Pearl.” ’80’s Hollywood superstar Kevin Bacon, who also appears as the lead villain in “Axel F,” eats a good chunk of screen time in “MaXXXine.”
What the first round of critics are saying?
USA Today gave it “3 out of 4 stars,” citing that the film gives Big Daddy Energy.
IGN gave it 8 out of 10. In Luke Reilly’s words: “Smartly assembled to feel like an authentic continuation of the original trilogy rather than an arbitrary reinvention of it, ‘Axel F’ is vintage Eddie Murphy set to a vintage soundtrack…[and] is a highly watchable return to form for Eddie Murphy.”
The Hollywood Reporter had mixed emotions in their review. “The closest thing to innovation that screenwriters Will Beall, Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten have come up with is the introduction of a sentimental strain of family friction, with estrangement predictably leading to accountability and warm reconciliation,” David Rooney wrote. “The rest is a strictly routine pileup of car crashes, shoot-outs and wisecracks.”
Right above the byline, Variety wrote “it’s better than “B.H. Cop II” or “III,” but its clichés bring the series full circle: the product/schlock of the ’80s meets the product/schlock of Netflix.
At RogerEbert.com, movie critic Brain Tallerico gave the film “three out of 4 stars,” adding “while the world becomes a more divisive, tumultuous, anxiety-producing place by the day in Summer 2024, there’s something almost comforting about a movie that, like the no-nonsense cop of its title, gets the job done.
