| Netflix | Release Date: July 3, 2024 | CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
17
Mixed:
26
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews
LooperJul 2, 2024
While some of the old magic might be a little lost in translation, "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F" still manages to deliver just about everything we could have hoped for from a legacy sequel in this franchise. It's funny, it's action-packed, it's got heart, and it's got Eddie Murphy proving once again that he's still got it. What more could you want?
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The TelegraphJul 2, 2024
Jul 2, 2024
With a tone consistent with the original trilogy, a straightforward premise that creates space for fresh faces without disrespecting the main character, and a well-paced mix of comedy, action, and silky smooth synth riffs, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is a highly watchable return to form for Eddie Murphy.
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Jul 2, 2024
Murphy is the key here. It would be a pleasant surprise to our time-traveling moviegoer from 1984 to find Murphy looking so much like his old self and in possession of his old gifts. His comic timing remains impeccable, and laughing with him here is both fresh and familiar, an ideal combination.
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Jul 3, 2024
What made the first two so successful — Beverly Hills Cop III is not canon in my world — is that they also functioned as delivery systems for Murphy’s charms as a total ham willing to freak out or speak in a parade of goofy voices for the sake of getting a laugh. Axel F does that too, but more than anything, it’s a reminder of how fun it can be to watch a Beverly Hills Cop movie.
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Jul 2, 2024
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is a standardized comeback that moderately succeeds in balancing tradition with reinvention. The film doesn’t kick your door down and challenge your Beverly Hills Cop fandom—Molloy knocks politely on your door and shows you what you want to see. It’s a humble nostalgia bomb à la Live Free or Die Hard, one afraid to upset the apple cart and detrimentally one-note. But Eddie Murphy’s still Eddie Murphy, and that’s like sneaking in a cheat code.
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The PlaylistJul 3, 2024
Eventually, the comedy coalesces enough to chalk up a small win. Mind you, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F isn’t reinventing the wheel, and low expectations might help. But it does make a remarkable transition from something that initially feels dire to something that eventually lights up, pleases, and produces some foul-mouthed ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ energy to feel familiar in the best sense.
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Jul 2, 2024
“Axel F” is the very definition of passable, comfort-viewing, nostalgia-tinged entertainment. It’s a good-looking film, and it’s wonderful to see Eddie Murphy returning to one of his signature roles and pumping it back to life after he sleep-walked through “Cop III.” It’s just a shame they got the band together after three decades, only to have them perform by-the-book renditions of the same old songs.
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Screen RantJul 2, 2024
EmpireJul 2, 2024
All involved have done a solid job in executing what most fans likely want from a very belated Beverly Hills Cop sequel. This is not an action movie with the slickness or invention to take on any current blockbuster franchise. It’s cheerfully old-fashioned and easy. It feels like you should be popping open a VHS case to watch it.
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SlashfilmJul 2, 2024
If you're simply looking to see Murphy slip back into a familiar role and have a little fun, "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F" might do the trick. Even though this film is lackluster, it's still fun to watch Eddie Murphy do his thing, and there are moments here where he genuinely seems to be having a good time, and that can be contagious. So maybe that's enough to satisfy. Or, when you sit down and fire up Netflix to watch this film, you can make a wiser choice and just watch "Dolemite is My Name" instead. It'll be a much better use of your time, I promise.
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The Observer (UK)Jul 11, 2024
Now in his 60s – not quite old enough to be a US presidential candidate but not far off – the actor lacks some of the hunger and aggression that ignited his career in the 80s, but he remains a uniquely magnetic performer. And somehow he manages to bring a degree of freshness to material that was stale several decades ago.
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Jul 3, 2024
This is a movie that doesn’t just heart the Eighties. It actually wishes it still were the Eighties, casting a fond glance to a simpler, more star-driven blockbuster era. Two hours later, however, and the thrill of getting this particular banana in your tailpipe feels like the most distant of memories.
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Jul 2, 2024
With “Axel F.,” a parade of watchable clichés (not just retro-cop-thriller clichés but Eddie Murphy clichés) staged by director Mark Molloy in a slovenly utilitarian style, the series comes full circle: the product/schlock of the ’80s meets the product/schlock of Netflix. Welcome to nostalgia minus the soul!
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The IndependentJul 2, 2024
While the newer Bad Boys films have delicately sidestepped the contemporary conversations around law enforcement, Axel F seems happy to offer up its protagonist as a figurehead for the active endorsement of police misconduct. I’d argue you could just let Harold Faltermeyer’s earworm of a theme song drown out that noise – but, alas, for a certain generation, that’s also been ruined by the crazy frog on the invisible motorcycle.
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Jul 12, 2024
If the spectacle of a film high-fiving itself from across the decades makes you feel physically nauseous, and one that opts for minor variations on a tried-and-tested formula over doing and saying something, anything even vaguely interesting, then hop into your busted blue Chevy Nova, hightail it past the Beverly Hills city limits and never look back.
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