Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)
Axel Foley returns to the land of sunshine and palm trees to investigate the near-fatal shooting of police Captain Andrew Bogomil. With the help of Sgt. Taggart and Det. Rosewood, they soon uncover that the shooting is associated with a series of "alphabet" robberies masterminded by a heartless weapons kingpin—and the chase is on.
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As far as sequels go this was one of my favorites i thought it was better then 1 and 3 my opinion one of my favorites TAGGORT: "get out of the pool AXEL, you stole this house ! "AXEL: "How the fu*k can you Steal a house?,.......its my unkle"s house!lmao hahaha
Often criticized as a not-so-good sequel, it earned practically the same money at the B.O. than the classic first movie, which of course it's the best from the "Beverly Hills Cop" franchise, no doubts about that, but the second one is still good in its own way.After the good job he made for the Simpson / Bruckheimer team in "Top Gun", Tony Scott was hired on the spot to helm "Beverly Hills Cop 2", with a bigger budget than the previous film & featuring almost the same cast & crew, but obviously, Scott added its own style to the film, way different than Martin Brest, which infuriated some of the "Beverly Hills Cop" purists.As a commercials and videoclips director, Scott was well-known for his flashy and glossy visual style, fast pacing, quick editing and over-the-top action, and that was the expected final product for "BHC2" and for sure, he delivered it even beyond expectations.It have more action than the first one, but the comedy situations (and timing) still dominate the screen and the higher budget is noticeable as much as the polished visual style of the whole, which was an improvement over the first.Eddie Murphy is back on his definitive role as Axel Foley, after the critical panned "The Golden Child", this time also as a co-writer and with him are back too: Judge Reinhold & John Ashton (the "Laurel & Hardy" of the Beverly Hills Police Department, both with more screen time and enhancing Murphy's acting and the general comedy tone of the movie), Gilbert R. Hill & Paul Reiser (as Inspector Todd and Jeffrey Friedman, respectively Foley's Chief & partner from Detroit, both hilarious), Frank Pesce (the cigarettes' smuggler from the first which appears as Robert Pastorelli's nephew, even if he looks older) & Ronny Cox (in an extended cameo role reprising Lt. Bogomil in a break of shooting "Robocop"), together again for another ride.The new additions to the cast, performed it superbly, with the Berliner Jürgen Prochnow playing the eerie main villain, Maxwell Dent and the Danish Brigitte Nielsen playing his sexy bodyguard / henchwoman, Karla Fry in a clear homage to the James Bond's villains, especially the Christopher Walken / Grace Jones evil duo in "A View to a Kill", which was released 1 year before "BHC2" went to production. Eddie Murphy himself is a great fan of the James Bond movies, hence the "Bond-ish" villains presented here.Allen Garfield as the grumpy Chief Harold Lutz; Dean Stockwell as Carlos Cain; Paul Guilfoyle, from future "C.S.I." fame, as the arms' dealer Nikos Thomopolis; Gilbert Gottfried as Dent's accountant, Sidney Bernstein and a cameo from Hugh Hefner complete the main cast, which also features a "blink and you'll miss it" appearance of Coppola's regular supporting player, Glenn Withrow as Willie, one of Karla's henchmen.The major problem about this sequel it's the screenplay which wasn't as good as the original, it was a bit lazy developed and the movie works much better in the comedy and action sequences alone, than trying to making sense. So in the first movie, Axel and Lt. Bogomil said goodbye to each other in good terms, after Foley helped the L.A. Police to catch the drug dealer / smuggler Victor Maitland, but nothing suggests that they will became as close as being fishing together (the same for both Rosewood and Taggart), but after two years only they're all best buddies in the world, Axel knows his daughter and Bogomil's house and later in the movie, we see Axel entering Rosewood's place for the very first time. It was way more logical for Axel being closer to Rosewood, after the events of the first movie, than to Bogomil. The sudden "Rosewood goes Rambo" gimmick is an in-joke about Sly Stallone being the first choice for "Beverly Hills Cop" and the fact that Stallone's then wife, Brigitte Nielsen, was cast as the blonde bombshell, Karla Fry, in the movie and we can even glance a poster of "Cobra" starred by both Stallone & Nielsen and released a year before, when Axel is using the phone in Billy's room. This decision also upset some of the fans, but i find it harmless to the general plot.About "The Alphabet Crimes", that was a bit childish and corny decision to use as the villains' device, it looks a bit out of place in an 80's action flick, suiting more that campy Batman TV Show from the 60's, something the Joker or the Riddler could have done.A plot hole occurs when "The Alphabet Crimes" were called by that, when only Adriano's was robbed at the beginning of the movie, even before Bogomil was shot, so with only an envelope with an "A", the apparently incompetent Beverly Hills Police Department, led by Chief Lutz and his right hand, Biddle, they know that the city will have more crimes following the alphabet letters ? Johnny Wishbone, they're not...Besides all the plot problems, visually and technically, "Beverly Hills Cop 2" it's a competent directed, staged and photographed film, with lots of humour, fast paced action scenes that keeps the viewer totally entertained. The soundtrack is as good as the first one, with Bob Seger performing the main theme "Shakedown", written by Harold Faltermeyer (the composer behind the famous "Axel F." theme) & Keith Forsey, a song that became a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for both the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.In short, it lacks the novelty and freshness of "Beverly Hills Cop", but it's still a very good sequel and an underrated film in the 80's cannon of action movies. Scott was always way ahead of its time and this movie was re-apreciated in later years as one of the first flicks that influenced the way action movies will be in the future... What is a shame is that there wasn't any action movie made in the last 20 years, that can even match what the late great Tony Scott did here...
Of all the Beverly Hills Cop films this is actually the one I prefer. True it focuses less on the development of the Axel Foley character but it's tight linear structure, iconic baddie (in the form of leggy blonde Bridgette Nielson), witty one liners and fast paced action sequences provide the bread and butter of any half decent action flick.. Oh and it also has the added bonus of featuring the Playboy Mansion too.It suits Eddie Murphy perfectly, given that his stage persona is all about being the coolest, biggest personality in the room. Although it presents as a 'fish out of water' story, BHC2 is actually more like the tale of a virus entering a new population that has no immunity to it. Nobody can defend against the motor mouth of Axel, Murphy's character. I sometimes wished someone did in fact, just once, so that he could get out of the situation some other way, but he talked his way out of or into everything perfectly, without fail. It's an enjoyable romp, with a central trio whose friendship I believed in. Scott's fingerprint is visible in the thrilling car chase sequences and (literally) explosive shoot-outs. There's not much depth to it, but you can get that elsewhere, like in the work of Tony Scott's older brother Ridley. Tony (now sadly deceased) did stylish action thrillers, and he did them damn well.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.
Beverly Hills Cop is my favorite comedy of all time, and its reputation as a classic of 1980s cinema is well earned. Its two sequels, however, are not held in as in high regard. The two follow-ups are often lumped together as lackluster efforts, which isn't fair since while Beverly Hills Cop II isn't a comedic masterpiece like the first one, it's the definitely the much stronger sequel. Having just watched the film for the first time in years, I found it to be a whole lot better than I remember. In fact, I'd say it's a quite an underrated sequel.The best decision made by director Tony Scott and the creative team behind Beverly Hills Cop II was to bring back almost all the actors from the first movie. Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Ronny Cox, Gilbert Hill, and Paul Reiser are just as great here as they were in the original. Unlike with most sequels, nobody on screen appears to be phoning in a performance for a paycheck. The main trio of Murphy, Reinhold, and Ashton are together for a good 80% of the film, and are absolutely perfect together. The three actors share amazing chemistry as a group, making every scene with them a blast to watch. The fact that their friendship feels real is what elevates Beverly Hills Cop II from ever feeling like just an unnecessary sequel. Beverly Hills Cop II has some of the same story beats as Beverly Hills Cop, but it never comes across as a lazy retread. The best parts of Beverly Hills Cop II are the noticeable differences from the first film. Rather than having to solve the murder of a friend, Axel must discover who shot Bogomil (Cox). Tony Scott gets a bit of suspense out of whether Bogomil will live or die, and there's a few surprisingly touching scenes between Axel and Bogomil's daughter. These scenes could have felt out of place in what is mostly a comedy, but they work quite well. What really separates Beverly Hills Cop II from the first one, as well as from most action movies in general, is that the main villain is a very intimidating woman, Karla Fry (Bridgitte Nielsen). There has been some criticism that the treatment of her character is misogynistic, though I've never seen much to support that argument. She may not be the most three-dimensional character every written, but the fact that we don't learn all that much about her makes her even more menacing. One of the best aspects to the story is that there is a hierarchy of villains. In addition to Karla, there's also the memorable Maxwell Dent (Jurgen Prochnow). The scene where Foley, Rosewood, and Taggart track down Max at the Playboy Mansion is the film's highlight, and one of the funniest scenes in any movie ever. Almost every single line in the scene is hilarious, Chris Rock gets a cool little cameo, and the scene somehow manages to be feel completely relevant to the plot. However, the Playboy Mansion scene also draws attention to the one major flaw of Beverly Hills Cop II that keeps it from being a truly great movie: the noticeably rough editing. Martin Brest has been quoted as saying that Beverly Hills Cop was saved in the editing room, and that he was amazed at how well everything cut together. Beverly Hills Cop II should have been looked at more closely in the editing room, because it is far from seamless. Several scenes seem to end randomly without any much sense of transition or rhythm. In some instances, the editing is just downright awkward. The best example of this is in the Playboy Mansion scene. Once Foley, Rosewood, and Taggart have left the mansion and the narrative of the scene is effectively over, the camera lingers on a random party-goer dancing enthusiastically to some music. The guy's dance moves are mildly amusing, but there is no real reason for the shot to be in the movie, and it feels extremely disconnected from the rest of the scene. Beverly Hills Cop II is filled with moments in which scenes don't cut at a logical endpoint. There are three credited editors, no doubt the result of a rushed post-production schedule to get the movie out by a certain release date. None of the bad editing kills my overall enjoyment of the film, though it's impossible not to be distracted by its shoddiness at times.With the exception of the poor editing, it's clear there was actually effort and care put into Beverly Hills Cop II, something that can't be said for sequels made in today's era. Just like with the original Beverly Hills Cop, this sequel has tremendous replay value. Though it might not be as well put together as its predecessor, Beverly Hills Cop II still works way, way better than 95% of sequels to classic comedies. 8/10