“Beverly Hills Cop” is back.
The fourth installment of the classic film series, “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,” will once again star Eddie Murphy as the rascally Detroit cop causing trouble in Los Angeles. The trailer, which you can watch above, gets bonus points for its mash-up of Harold Faltermeyer’s iconic theme music with the Notorious B.I.G.’s “Going Back to Cali.”
Taylour Paige plays Axel Foley’s daughter, who teams up with her dad, a new partner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and old friends Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and John Taggart (John Ashton), who “turn up the heat and uncover a conspiracy.”
Kevin Bacon costars as a captain in the Beverly Hills Police Department. Plus, Paul Reiser (who appeared in “Beverly Hills Cop II”) and Bronson Pinchot (who cameoed as Serge in the first and third films) return to the franchise and make memorable appearances in the trailer.
The spot feels like it places a heavy emphasis on the action, recalling Tony Scott’s “Beverly Hills Cop II,” which at the time in 1987 had the highest grossing opening weekend ever. But of course there are the lighthearted quips that made the original film, released in 1984, such a sensation. Thankfully, it doesn’t look anything like “Beverly Hills Cop III,” which awkwardly placed Axel in a theme park. That film was fraught with behind-the-scenes drama and was the only movie in the franchise not produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and the late Don Simpson. (Bruckheimer and his current partner Chad Oman have returned for “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.”
“Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” was directed by Australian filmmaker Mark Molloy, who worked from a screenplay by Will Beall and Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten. Bruckheimer, Oman and Murphy produce and Melissa Reid coproduces, with Ray Angelic, Charisse Hewitt-Webster and Lorenzo Di Bonaventura serving as executive producers.
“Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” is slated to hit Netflix this summer. It’s good to have him back.
