Beverly Hills Cop: 3 Movie Collection review by Bobby Blakey
Eddie Murphy has had an insane career from SNL funnyman, iconic stand up specials and box office superstar. Back in 1984 he jumped onto the big screen with the action comedy Beverly Hills Cop that spawned two sequels and ongoing talks about a fourth film coming soon. To celebrate the 35th anniversary of the film Paramount is bringing the original trilogy home in the Beverly Hill Cop 3 Film Collection.
Beverly Hills Cop follows Axel Foley, a street-smart cop from Detroit. Tracking down his best friend's killer in Beverly Hills, Axel smashes through the local barriers in a hilarious, high-speed pursuit of justice. It’s hard to believe that the first film came out in 1984, but here we are 35 years later and the film still delivers the laughs and action. I always heard this was original a vehicle for Stallone, but can’t imagine anyone but Murphy in the role. Surprisingly it holds up well and despite obviously being from the 80s doesn’t feel as dated. Murhpy looks to be having a blast here and reminds you why he became such a big screen mega star that he was. If you have never checked this film out it is a classic comedy action film that offers up the laughs, the action and everything in between.
Beverly Hills Cop II follows Axel Foley who returns to Beverly Hills to help Taggart and Rosewood investigate Chief Bogomil's near-fatal
shooting and the series of "alphabet crimes" associated with it. Honestly I know I have seen both sequels but outside of a few scenes with Brigitte Nielsen I didn’t remember all that much. While this film isn’t near as good as the original it still offers up a lot of the same laughs and action as the first film. Where the story falls short it is still held together thanks to the great chemistry of Murphy, Judge Reinhold and John Ashton. Seeing the evolution of their relationship makes the film work better than it might have otherwise. In the end though this was still a good follow up to further the crime solving fun with Axel Foley.
Beverly Hills Cop III follows Axel Foley, while investigating a car theft ring, who comes across something much bigger than that: the same men who killed his boss are running a counterfeit money ring out of a theme park in Los Angeles. As mentioned with the previous film I didn’t remember much of this one and honestly not sure I ever saw it all the way through until now despite thinking I had. I really dig that they continued evolving the Foley character through each film and here they actually kicked it off on a heavy note giving Murphy some emotional moments leading into the case. Sadly the rest of the movie is all over the place trying to find the same magic and it’s just not there. I always heard this was Murphy wanting to be a more serious action star, but the inconsistency of it all just makes it miss the mark. I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it all, but that is mostly just getting to see Murphy do his thing.
In addition to all three films this collection offers up new and old bonus content including never before seen deleted scenes, commentary, trailer, featurettes and more. The heat is on for this trilogy when the Beverly Hills Cop 3 Movie Collection hits Blu-ray for the first time on January 14th from Paramount Home Entertainment.