Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F

What's old is new again with this greatest hits sequel.

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As far as legacy sequels go “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” (now streaming on Netflix) ain’t quite “Creed” or “Top Gun: Maverick,” but it isn’t terribly far off and it’s a whole lot better than the likes of “Independence Day: Resurgence.”

Within the first few minutes characters utter disdainful phrases such as, “Fuck you, Foley,” or “Goddamned, Foley!,” at our titular Axel F (Eddie Murphy). (At this point the movie might as well be called “Everybody Hates Axel F.”) When Axel responds in kind with his big, beaming, beatific smile we’re thrust back 30 years to the last and least “Beverly Hills Cop” entry and it’s on like Donkey Kong.

Axel has an estranged daughter who’s changed her name from Jane Foley to Jane Saunders (Taylour Paige, she played Zola in the very fun and funny flick of the same name) as an f-you to her old man. Jane’s working as an attorney in Beverly Hills, Calif. defending the same folks Axel, Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and John Taggart (John Ashton) have spent their storied careers attempting to put away … another f-you to her Pops.

Jane’s drawn a case defending accused cop killer Sam Enriquez (Damien Diaz) to which she was tipped off by Rosewood. Rosewood quit the Beverly Hills Police Department after he uncovered corruption and wasn’t backed by his former partner Taggart, who’s come out of retirement to become BHPD’s Chief. When Jane’s life is threatened for taking the case, Axel departs Detroit and bolts for Beverly Hills in order to protect his daughter and rekindle their relationship. Aiding Axel in his pursuit is Det. Bobby Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who’s somehow transformed himself into Thomas Ian Nicholas circa “American Reunion”), a genial cop who just so happens to be Jane’s ex.

“Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” is a very entertaining exercise in nostalgia. Axel’s Detroit Police Department cohort Jeffrey Friedman (Paul Reiser) is on hand, has been promoted and is on the cusp of retirement. Serge (Bronson Pinchot) shows up for a recon mission where Axel, Jane and Abbott humorously tour a gaudy mansion that’s for sale. Hell, we even see a framed photo of Axel’s dearly departed boss Inspector G. Douglas Todd (Gil Hill) on the wall of Friedman’s office. I’m sort of surprised Ronny Cox’s Andrew Bogomil never turns up except in a reoccurring fishing photo. Needle drops from previous pictures including Glenn Frey’s “The Heat Is On,” Bob Seger’s “Shakedown,” the Pointer Sisters’ “Neutron Dance” and Harold Faltermeyer’s “Axel F” show up on the soundtrack. This all amounts to little more than a greatest hits package, but it’s a blast. Fans of the franchise will most assuredly be happy.

The major thrust of “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” is the relationship between Axel and Jane and both Murphy and Paige come to play. They have a real deal chemistry that’s both funny and touching. It’s a joy to watch Murphy’s Axel lie so well and so amusingly after seeing Donald Trump dismally do so over the last decade. There’s a gleam in Murphy’s eye here that was present in his early 1980s heyday but has been largely absent from his family-friendlier flicks of the past few decades. Not everything is character-based either. There’s plenty of cool action too. Gordon-Levitt’s Abbott pilots a helicopter like he’s been employed on a production from “Beverly Hills Cop III” director John Landis. There are gunfights aplenty … some sporting graphic headshots.

Between “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” and “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” it’s a good summer to be a black-fronted, Jerry Bruckheimer-produced action-comedy. What’s old is new again.