I'm half an hour removed from watching the fourth Beverly Hills Cop film, which came out on Netflix this morning. I wanted to share some close-to-immediate thoughts about it and compile my new Beverly Hills Cop movie ranking.
First things first - I actually loved it.
Going in, I didn't know whether I would be satisfied because I felt the franchise was tarnished by Beverly Hills Cop III and didn't have complete faith in a redemption of any kind. Add in the fact that I have not really liked much of Eddie Murphy's stuff since the 2000s.
With that said, yes - it was a brilliant film. Fans of the original movie will love it immensely because there are quite a lot of nods to the first.
The loudest laugh out moment for me came when there was an in-joke about how bad Beverly Hills Cop III is.
In the scene, Axel Foley is sitting with Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character (Abbott) and the latter is reading through a file of Foley's previous arrests in Beverly Hills. He does so by year of the films' releases, so he mentions 1984 and 1987 and then - when he points out 1994, the year of BHC III's release - Abbott comments 'that wasn't your finest hour'.
The return of some of the major characters from the previous movies was another positive. It was great to see Billy Rosewood and John Taggart reunited and teaming up at the movie's conclusion which was very reminiscent of the original with Taggart showing up to a mansion with a rifle and Rosewood got a few good shots in on the baddies.
As for minor cast from the franchise - I enjoyed seeing Serge again. Bronson Pinochet's Serge was hysterical in the first and was one of the only good parts about the third film. It was also fun to see that the Detroit Police Department brown-noser sidekick to Axel in the first two movies - Jeffrey - plays a part in the fourth film. He has gained promotion in the years since we last saw him. He's now head of the police office.
There were a lot more car chases and stunts in this one. Again, some of the chases were tributes to the previous films in the franchise.
Kevin Bacon was excellent as the baddie. It's quite noticeable to see that someone big from the 1980s was chosen to be the lead villain. I also thought it was fun to see Gordon-Levitt as the goodie Beverly Hills sidekick to Axel Foley just like Judge Reinhold's Billy in the other three films. Reinhold was in a lot of famous films at the time, just like Gordon-Levitt is today.
I haven't read any reviews of the film before writing this post, so I don't know how the critics - or fans - have received it yet. On one hand, I would be surprised if they pan this film. Then, on the other, I could see those who may criticise it because it played too much on nostalgia from the '84 classic and certain parts of their follow-ups.
With that all said, here is my ranking of the franchise after today's viewing.
- Beverly Hills Cop
- Beverly Hills Cop IV
- Beverly Hills Cop II
- Beverly Hills Cop III
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