Ah, one of the golden oldies, right? We all know and love Axel Foley. Well, those of us older than 30 anyway. Beverly Hills Cop was one of the greatest films of that era, and which it has survived at least 4 sequels. And every sequel has been great too.
Who doesn't like a good Eddie Murphy film. Word on the street is that another Beverly Hills cop is being made and Billy and Taggart are back. It's amazing!
I think what this film does best is highlight the different ways policing is done in different parts of the country. Axel comes from Detroit. Detroit is known to be a gritty gang infested city where crime is rife and criminals run free. Of course there are just as many police officers to uphold the law, and try to invent new and interesting ways to combat crime.
Beverly Hills on the other hand is one of the richest parts of the known world. Where millionaires and billionaires roam the streets, and everyone is driving a flash car and most people look loaded out in the best of gear. Axel sort of looks out of place here.
And we also see where money is, the more liberal we can afford to become. Detroit is known for its mostly poor neighbourhoods and people can be more streetwise, whereas we see in Beverly Hills on the surface there seems to be way less crime, and more so parading of ones self and their assets.
I think this is the main theme of this film, and where most of the people watching can relate to Axel, especially in the timezone this film was created when most people didn't have much of nothing. We can relate to his awe and confusion of the luxurious highways, the sheer splendour of the infastructure, the crisp and clean people, and the just polished up view everyone has.
But this is what Axel uses to his advantage. The great part of this film is that Axel uses people's perception, he relies on their pre-judgement to get around and do what he needs to do. For instance Billy and Taggart (two cops that are assigned to him who later become stars in the series of films) think of him as some silly street urchin cop from backwards Detroit, there's no way he's outsmarting two detectives from high and mighty Beverly Hills with all their money, gears and gadgets.
But he outsmarts them at every turn, he literally has them running after him every step of the way and has out-thinked them at every corner. They are playing catch up as he is solving the crimes. I guess realistically axel can get away with his dubious detective work because in Beverly Hills he isn't a practising officer, he's a citizen. Whereas Billy and Taggart are limited by the confines of law. And can't do anywhere near as much as Axel can.
Definitely a high point of Eddie Murphie's acting career. Right up there with the Golden Child. We've seen a slump in his acting for the last 20 years but I'm hoping we will eventually see a comeback of good wholesome films made by him. In short I miss that he hasn't starred in anything of real note for a while
The coming of the new sequel may change this.
But anyway, well worth a watch.
Posted using CineTV
