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The 1988 sequel to one of the most successful movies of all time finds Eddie Murphy reprising his role as Detroit police detective Axel Foley, and once again playing a fish out of water as he tries to solve a series of heists in Beverly Hills that may be connected to the attempted murder of his friend, a Beverly Hills police captain (Ronny Cox). Constructed in a much flashier and faster-paced visual style than the first film, the song still remains the same as Foley tries to keep his job in Detroit while solving crimes for the Beverly Hills cops. Murphy again makes the most of culture shock for comic effect, and the easy rapport between Murphy and Billy (Judge Reinhold), now a cheerfully over the top
Rambo-esque figure, is still the centerpiece of this series. While not the least bit original, director Tony Scott (
Crimson Tide,
Top Gun) puts his own stamp on this installment and keeps the action and the laughs coming.
--Robert Lane
Review
Beverly Hills Cop worked because the fish-out-of-water element was made fresh by Eddie Murphy's liveliness. The comedy in the film was much more memorable than the action. The makers of Beverly Hills Cop 2 did not watch the first film enough times. Martin Brest, a quirky director, let the original film slow down enough to let Murphy have fun. By choosing Tony Scott (fresh from making Tom Cruise a star in Top Gun) to helm the sequel, the filmmakers were tipping their hand that this would be a wall-to-wall action blockbuster. While Beverly Hills Cop 2 is a competent action film, it is missing the level of energetic comedy that it promises in its association to the earlier film. Even though it was a success at the time, one can look back and see this film as the beginning of Eddie Murphy's prolonged big-screen slump. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
