80s Movie Review - Beverly Hills Cop II

Director: Tony Scott

Genre: Action/ Comedy

Runtime: 100 minutes

Year: 1987

Starring: Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Ronny Cox, Jürgen Prochnow, Brigitte Nielsen, Allen Garfield, Dean Stockwell, Paul Reiser, Paul Guilfoyle, Chris Rock

Description: Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) returns to Beverly Hills to help Taggart (John Ashton) and Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) investigate Chief Bogomil’s near-fatal shooting and the series of “alphabet crimes” associated with it.

Review: Eddie Murphy was added to the cast of “Beverly Hills Cop” at the very last moment. And it gave us a successful and fun comedy action film. In the second part, “Beverly Hills Cop II”, the script is written around his ability to act and improvise. As a viewer you would expect a better elaborated story, but in practice it turns out differently. The story is pretty much the same, but the film isn’t very surprising at all.

Eddie Murphy is still funny and seemingly enjoying his role. The same goes for Judge Reinhold and John Ashton, as Rosewood and Taggart. They get more screentime and their characters have undergone development.

“Beverly Hills Cop II” is again fun, but offers just more of the same ad the previous film.

Rating: 3 / 5

80s Movie Review - Beverly Hills Cop

Director: Martin Brest
Genre: Action/ Comedy
Runtime: 105 minutes
Year: 1984
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Ronny Cox, Lisa Eilbacher, Steven Berkoff, Jonathan Banks, James Russo, Bronson Pinchot, Damon Wayans, Paul Reiser. Stephen Elliott

Description: A freewheeling Detroit cop (Eddie Murphy) pursuing a murder investigation finds himself dealing with the very different culture of Beverly Hills.

Review: The script of “Beverly Hills Cop” was initially written with Sylvester Stallone in mind, but he dropped out at the last moment. With Eddie Murphy as his replacement, the scriptwriters had to rewrite many scenes, but due to the short time frame not all dialogues were finished before filming. With the arrival of Murphy, the film changed from a serious police thriller into a comedic action film, in which the humorous dialogues were mainly created by improvisation.
It shows that the actors has a lot of fun. During the so-called supercop scene, the actors clearly have trouble holding back their smiles. Eddie Murphy is given the freedom to shape his character, Axel Foley, as a last minute stand-in. the creators give him the space, but it’s the supporting roles, which act both as a counterpoint to his character and as a companion to the jokes. The two dull cops of the Beverly Hills police force who excel in this, are played by Judge Reinhold and John Ashton. They play the roles of Billy Rosewood and John Taggart. Together they are also responsible for sharp dialogues.
“Beverly Hills Cop” is probably  one of Eddie Murphy’s most iconic roles and it’s one of the most fun action comedies from the 80s.

Rating: 4 / 5