The cinema summer of 2024 should be dubbed Return of the Ancient Franchise.
Six weeks ago, Garfield the cat returned to the big screen, not quite two decades after his previous appearance. One week later, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence reunited (yet again!) for Bad Boys: Ride or Die. In two weeks, we’re getting Twisters, a sorta-kinda retread of 1996’s Twister. The winner’s trophy, however, goes to Michael Keaton’s return in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice on Sept. 6 ... not quite four decades after he last donned that pasty make-up.
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| Having become reluctant allies, Jane (Taylour Paige) and Bobby (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) listen attentively as Axel (Eddie Murphy) outlines a plan to gain access to a top floor private gathering. |
The good news is that director Mark Molloy and his scripters — Will Beall, Tom Gormican and Kevin Ketten — respect this franchise’s fan base. They’ve delivered a well-assembled product that ticks all the necessary boxes, and — in more ways than one — can be considered a cast reunion and nostalgic throwback to the 1984 original.
The soundtrack certainly hasn’t changed; the film opens with the pulsating sax grooves from Glenn Frey’s “The Heat Is On,” and it doesn’t take long for The Pointer Sisters’ “Neutron Dance” and Harold Faltermeyer’s instrumental “Axel F” to arrive. Indeed, the latter pops up, in various arrangements, throughout the entire film (perhaps a bit too frequently).
And — of course — Murphy takes every opportunity to deliver Axel’s signature foul-mouthed and smart-assed schtick, often while pretending to be somebody else. It’s part of the character’s charm, and no; it hasn’t worn thin.
The bad news is that producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s reputation precedes him, with respect to the ludicrously overblown amount of real estate, vehicles and personal property that gets destroyed during the course of this saga. Bruckheimer remains the poster boy for wretched excess, and Molloy and stunt supervisor Mike Gunther cheerfully oblige.
(That said, it’s nice that the original Bruckheimer/Don Simpson logo heralds this new film, by way of acknowledging his late partner’s involvement with the first one.)
The action kicks off one evening in Detroit, as Axel interrupts the theft of sports memorabilia from the players’ locker room during an ice hockey game. The subsequent vehicular chase finds Axel in a garbage truck-sized city snowplow, in pursuit of four baddies on peppy quad-cycles: a smash ’n’ crash sequence that destroys a good-sized chunk of the city.
After which, Axel’s only “punishment” is standing back as beloved boss Deputy Chief Friedman (Paul Reiser) falls on his sword and retires, in order to keep his “favorite cop” out of trouble with the Police Commissioner.
(As if. One would hope that Beall and the other writers would try a little harder, but this sort of nonsense has long been a franchise hallmark.)
Elsewhere, in Beverly Hills, Axel’s estranged daughter Jane (Taylour Paige) agrees to represent Sam Enriquez (Damien Diaz), in prison for killing a cop ... which he insists he didn’t do. Within minutes of going public with re-opening the case, Jane’s life is threatened by masked thugs who mean serious business.
(Which pretty much proves that Enriquez was railroaded, right?)
Coincidentally, Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold), now a private investigator, calls his old buddy Axel to say he’s chasing down a lead that would prove the cop Enriquez supposedly killed was dirty, and in cahoots with drug smugglers. Billy also explains Jane’s involvement, which prompts Axel to hop the first flight to California.
Cinematographer Eduard Grau’s subsequent montage is a lot of fun, when Axel arrives and reacquaints himself with Beverly Hills, while driving a junker rental car: a sequence deftly set to (what else?) Billy Idol’s “Hot in the City.”
Axel gets in trouble almost immediately, and is arrested by Detective Bobby Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Bobby’s stroll through the files that detail Axel’s previous exploits in Beverly Hills includes a cute reference to how much of a bomb the third film was: “1994,” Bobby comments. “Not your finest hour.”
Axel also is reunited with former ally John Taggart (John Ashton), now a police chief with high blood pressure and a daily regimen of meds. That meeting also includes Capt. Cade Grant (Kevin Bacon), whose smarmy behavior immediately brands him as this film’s Big Bad.
(Honestly, Bacon may as well have the word “Bent” tattooed on his forehead.)
Ensuing chases and shoot-’em-ups are intercut with Axel’s efforts to mends fences with his daughter, who — despite fearing for her life — wants nothing to do with him. Murphy and Paige play these scenes reasonably well; Jane’s bitterness and anger are persuasive, and Axel doesn’t make headway for quite awhile. Gordon-Levitt adds tension to these efforts at fence-mending, when it turns out that Bobby and Jane used to be an item.
Gordon-Levitt and Paige are stabilizing elements — genuine human beings — in what otherwise might have devolved into a live-action cartoon.
Bronson Pinchot is less successful, returning as Serge, the ambiguously accented — and aggressively effeminate — socialite who proves useful at one point. Pinchot’s performance just doesn’t play in this third decade of the 21st century.
Nasim Pedrad is funnier in her brief appearance as Ashley De La Rosa, real estate agent to the stars, who doesn’t think much of her job, or her son. “He’s a loser,” she insists, and then adds, “he’s only 4, but I can tell.”
Everything builds to the anticipated explosive and bullet-laden climax that — as is typical, with such films — leaves all the bad guys dead. Which begs a couple of questions: Wouldn’t prison, and public disgrace, be a more fitting punishment? And if all the villains are offed, who’s left to give testimony that’ll help free Enriquez?
Ah, but we don’t watch Murphy and a Beverly Hills Cop entry for narrative logic; we expect nothing but a capricious good time ... which this film certainly delivers.
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