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Beverly Hills Cop III
Axel Foley returns to California and gets up to fun and games at a theme park. Eddie Murphy shows off his action skills and forgets what made the original film memorable
Shorn of most of the supporting cast, transplanted to a new location and pitched to a different audience, there's little except the title to connect Beverly Hills Cop III to the two earlier films. It's almost as though a random-action script was dusted off from the shelf and, with minimal alterations, presented as the latest part of the once-blockbusting franchise. It must have been getting harder and harder for screenwriters to justify Axel Foley's continual bunking off to Beverly Hills. Here, they barely bother: his boss is shot by villains, who leave a series of clues which direct Axel to you-know-where. More specifically, it's 'Wonder World', a Disney-esque theme park where the security chief (Carhart) is up to no good. Teaming up again with Billy Rosewood (Reinhold), Axel infiltrates the park to find out what's going on behind the rides. In the seven years since Beverly Hills Cop II, Eddie Murphy calmed down a lot and the character he plays here is a more conventional hero than the Foley of old: there's a daring aerial rescue sequence straight out of the Bond movies and much less wise-cracking. On its own merits, it's an average action thriller, but as a sequel, it has nothing in common with its precursors. It has the kind of script associated more with Bruce Willis than Eddie Murphy. He makes a brave stab at it but it's a shame they forgot that action isn't what Axel Foley does best. Verdict A wrong-headed, too-formulaic revisiting of the once-entertaining franchise. |
