Chaplin
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Beverly Hills Cop 2
Directed by Tony Scott
Cast:
Eddie Murphy - Axel Foley
Judge Reinhold - Detective Billy Rosewood
Jürgen Prochnow - Maxwell Dent
Ronny Cox - Andrew Bogomil
John Ashton - John Taggart
Brigitte Nielsen - Karla Fry
Critic's 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, Rovi
My Review:
The other (along with Lethal Weapon 2) sequel that equals, or arguably betters, it's original, Beverly Hills Cop II IMO was the pinnacle of Eddie Murphy's movie career. His follow-up to this film was Coming to America, which had its charms, but until Bowfinger in 1999, he had nothing going for him except the original Nutty Professor and the voice of Mushu in Mulan.
This film really took his considerable comedy skills and put them to perfect use. Well before he was doing stupid family movies, he played his best character, Axel Foley, a smart-mouthed cop from Detroit. After his friend, Beverly Hills police lieutenant Andrew Bogomil is gunned down, he once again goes to California and has his own investigation.
The supporting cast, again, is excellent--led by Judge Reinhold (still the best role of his career) and John Ashton as his Beverly Hills friends and counterparts in the police department. The mood, while definitely funny, retains a certain suspense and thrill. While perhaps not as thrilling as Die Hard, it has that kind of breathless excitement the Bruce Willis movie had. And even more surprisingly, even though the movie was released in 1987, it hasn't dated as much as you'd think (although female hair styles are all 80s).
The original Beverly Hills Cop was a fun introduction to the character of Axel Foley and his developing friendship with Rosewood and Taggart. The second film takes those relationships and makes them the basis of the film. It is a unique thing to see in an action film. And this one is just nothing but fun all around.
Trivia:
Axel (Eddie Murphy) introduces himself at the gun club as "Richard James", the name of Murphy's musician friend who produced his 1986 album.
Billy Rosewood has posters in his apartment of Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) and Cobra (1986), both starring Sylvester Stallone. Stallone's then-wife Brigitte Nielsen appears in the film as Karla Fry and Stallone was the original choice to play the lead in the original Beverly Hills Cop (1984). In fact, when Stallone was signed to star in Beverly Hills Cop (1984), he did a polish on the script that focused more on action and took away the comedic element. He changed the main character's name from 'Axel Foley' to 'Axel Cobretti'. When he eventually dropped out of Beverly Hills Cop (1984), he used the character's name and certain elements from his polish of the script for Cobra (1986).
The cement truck that Billy drives has a sticker saying DS/JB Construction Company. DS and JB stand for the film's producers, Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer.
The name of the villain, Maxwell Dent, is a combination of two names that were used as "house pseudonyms" by Street & Smith Publishing for its 1930s pulp fiction magazines: Maxwell Grant (aka Walter Gibson), author of "The Shadow", and Lester Dent (aka Kenneth Robeson), author of "Doc Savage".
The license plate 2GAT123 also appears in L.A. Story (1991), Go (1999), Pay It Forward (2000), Traffic (2000), Crazy/Beautiful (2001), Mulholland Dr. (2001), S.W.A.T. (2003) and "Two and a Half Men" (2003). It is the California standard fictional license plate, analogous to a "555" telephone number.
According to the DVD Documentary, Paramount originally wanted to produce a TV series of Beverly Hills Cop after the success of the first film but Eddie Murphy didn't want to go back to TV so a movie was made instead.
Producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer hired Tony Scott to direct because of the good job he did on Top Gun (1986).
In the scene at Billy's apartment where both Axel and Billy sing the theme to "The Dating Game", the singing was improvised by Eddie Murphy and Judge Reinhold.
Chris Rock makes an appearance as the valet at the Playboy Mansion who complains about Axel bringing in a cement truck. This is his first role on the big screen; Rock was featured in an HBO comedy special (which featured aspiring comedians e.g. Robert Townsend, Marsha Warfield) which was produced by Eddie Murphy and his childhood friend Clint Smith.
In an earlier draft of the script, Karla Fry was named "Trish" and the finale was originally set to take place at Maxwell Dent's mansion.
Pay attention to Axel as he is leaving his apartment during the opening credits. As he closes the door, you can see the initials "AF" scratched into the door. They're (obviously) the initials for "Axel Foley".
When Bogamill calls Axel, Axel answers as George "Kingfish" Stevens. "Kingfish" is a character from the "Amos & Andy" comedies.
At 1 hour 42 minutes, the shortest running-time of all the Beverly Hills Cop movies made so far.
Chief Lutz mistakenly refers to Detective Rosewood by the wrong name, "Roseweed". In Beverly Hills Cop (1984), the Chief also refers to Rosewood by the wrong name, "Rosemont".
In the scene where Taggart and Rosewood enter Axel's "house" in Beverly Hills, Rosewood remarks to Taggart that maybe The Pointer Sisters live in the house. The Pointer Sisters performed the song "Neutron Dance" in the first Beverly Hills Cop film and they also perform "Be There" in the second.
The only film in the trilogy that was shot on 2.35:1 aspect ratio whereas the first and third one where shot on 1.85:1.
Just before the final gun battle, Rosewood is seen pulling out guns from an arsenal in his trunk. This is a nod to co-producer Don Simpson. According to Judge Reinhold in the 'making of' documentary for the first film, he recalls that the first time he met Simpson, the producer showed off his collection of guns in the trunk of his car.
SPOILER: The Alphabet crimes are: - A: Adriano's (jewellery store) - B: Bogomil (Taggart and Rosewood's commanding officer) - C and D: City Deposit - E and F: Empyrian Fields (race track)
