BEVERLY HILLS COP II . Directed by Tony Scott; written by Larry Ferguson and Warren Skaaren; produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer for Paramount. Starring Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold and John Ashton. Rated R (language, violence).
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In a nutshell, the word on Beverly Hills Cop II is this—if you liked the original, you'll like this one. And if you didn't, you won't. The current version is just as funny, fast-moving and violent as its predecessor.
After taking a break from good comedy to star in the awful The Golden Child, Murphy is back in rare form as Axel Foley, street-smart Detroit detective. This time he does have friends in Beverly Hills, though—the suit-and-tie cops he met in the first movie.
One of them, Captain Borgomil (Ronny Cox) is critically wounded after picking up the trail of the "Alphabet Bandit," who's pulled off some daring heists in Beverly Hills. When Axel hears this, naturally he's off to California to solve the case. His friends there, hampered by regulations and lacking Axel's gift for brazen improvization, welcome him with open arms.
The only substantial difference between Beverly Hills Cop I and II involves these California cops. Billy (Reinhold) and Taggart (Ashton) have more to do in part II. They're not as incompetant as before, just still more inhibited than Axel. (Although Billy is working on some sponteneity, as when he steals a cement mixer to chase after some fleeing bad guys.)
Given a little more onscreen time to flesh out their characters, they make this movie, at least now and then, a little more like an ensemble than a one-man-show.
If anything, the villains here are less interesting than those in the 1984 release. Jurgen Prochnow's fine talent for menace is wasted in his brief appearances as the criminal mastermind. Brigitte Nielsen, as a long, cool hit-person, is best when she keeps her mouth shut, since her statuesque looks are quite impressive and her acting talent doesn't measure up.
Dean Stockwell plays another of the weasel-like bad apples that he's done so well in recent years. But his character is pretty stupid here, and that undercuts his effectiveness as a villain.
The violence I found objectionable in the first Beverly Hills Cop is still in evidence. A little here and there for most of the movie, then piled on at the end. And there's an even more pronounced fascination with exotic firearms that leaves a bad aftertaste when the smoke clears.
Whether this sequel will match the phenomenal box-office success of the original will be interesting to see. As long as Murphy fans don't mind more of the same, it just might.
June 10, 1987