BEVERLY HILLS COP TRILOGY: Blu-ray (Paramount, 1984, 87, 94) Paramount Home Video

In the Spring of 1984, comedian, Eddie Murphy was very much poised to explode on the scene as a Hollywood heavy-hitter. His legendary 4-year tenure as part of the ensemble in Lorne Michael’s wildly popular television skit franchise, Saturday Night Live, had just come to an end. And in the interim Murphy, signed to Paramount Studios, appeared to great effect in 48 Hrs. (1982), and Trading Places (1983). A valiant successor to Richard Pryor, whose particular brand of bathroom humor Murphy idolized and emulated early on in his own career, albeit, with his own inimitable originality that seemed to suggest he had invented such schtick from scratch, Murphy’s career was about to be catapulted into the stratosphere with his next big screen project. Martin Brest's Beverly Hills Cop (1984) is a film very near and dear to my heart. I was thirteen when I first saw it with a live audience at my local theater. And rather instantly, it was impossible not to be impressed by Murphy’s naturalistic acting style.  He seemed, in fact, to be making most of his dialogue up as he went along – shooting his pistol, alongside witty – if slightly blue – barbs as quickly discharged from his mouth as the bullets from his holster. Then and there, I decided Eddie Murphy's comedic genius was tailor-made for the movies and I became a huge fan. The passage of time has not altered my snap assessment of Murphy’s talents some forty-plus years later, although I will concede Eddie's made some terrible movies since.

Now, movies from the 1980’s generally get a bad rap as being high camp disposable puff art. Those who have not seen enough movies from the decade are too quick to point out the tacky hairdos and flamboyant fashion trends (padded shoulders, mesh tank tops, pastel Don Johnson suits, etc. et al), and the uber-glam-bam of consumer materialism run amok (lifestyles of the rich and famous, here we come), the impossibly feather-weight quality of scripts and finally, the whole laissez faire attitude toward acting then, more artificially over-the-top, transparent or, on the flip side, just plain dull. Truer still, there is no shortage of 'bad' movies from the 1980’s (although the same might be said of any decade in film). And, I have no doubt that if either Sly Stallone or Mickey Rourke had accepted the challenge of playing Axel Foley (both were initially offered the role), Beverly Hills Cop would be wedged into the bargain basement bin of our collective consciousness alongside other forgotten whack-tac-u-lar relics from this period. How refreshing then to discover that with Eddie Murphy in the driver's seat, not only has Beverly Hills Cop not dated, it seems to have avoided all of the aforementioned pitfalls. The concept for Beverly Hills Cop had been kicking around Paramount since 1977, the year executive producer, Don Simpson pitched its proverbial ‘fish out of water’ scenario about a police officer from the gritty streets of East L.A., suddenly transferred to the chichi and moneyed playgrounds of Beverly Hills. Hiring Danilo Bach to write the screenplay, the concept morphed into ‘Beverly Drive’ – the cop, then named Elly Axel – now, an even more remote figure, hailing from Pittsburgh. However, executives at Paramount were underwhelmed by Simpson’s pitch and the property quietly faded into obscurity. But then came Flashdance (1983), Simpson’s runaway hit nobody saw coming. Its clout afforded Simpson the cache to pursue his dream project and ‘Beverly Drive’ was revived, with Daniel Petrie brought in to refurbish the script.

The main character became Axel Elly – and finally, Axel Foley from Detroit, with producer, Jerry Bruckheimer signing Mickey Rourke at $400,000 to do the film. Alas, delays encountered forced Rourke to drop out of the running. Bruckheimer then turned to Sylvester Stallone as his second choice. Stallone saw the role as a straight actioner and proceeded to aggressively darken the overall tenor of the piece, changing the lead character’s name to Axel Corbretti, and, even killing off Axel’s playful sidekick, Billy Rosewood mid-way through the story. He also envisioned a costly finale to have included a ruthless game of ‘chicken’ – a Lamborghini versus a freight train. Paramount balked at the budget and Stallone withdrew from the project a mere two weeks before principle photography was to begin. From here, Paramount bandied about such names as James Caan, Al Pacino and even Richard Pryor for the lead, before Bruckheimer convinced the studio to consider Eddie Murphy in their stead. Although Murphy had proven a hit maker for Paramount, their executive brain trust was still reticent to spend $14 million on an action/comedy, with $4 million alone allocated for Murphy. Ultimately, Brest and his crew managed to shave an additional million off the budget, and Paramount gave the go-ahead to commence. The rest, as they say, is history.

Beverly Hills Cop opens in the slums of inner-city Detroit. Undercover cop, Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) is attempting to bust a ring of smugglers by pretending to fence stolen cigarettes when the squad cars move in. One of the smugglers gets cold feet, steals the semi with its contraband while Axel is barely clinging to its siderails, leading police on a harrowing chase through the city’s gritty back alleys. The smugglers get away, leaving Axel to face the wrath of his superior, Inspector Douglas Todd (Gilbert R. Hill). That evening, Axel hooks up with his old pal, Mikey Tandino (James Russo), once a cop too, but who left the badge for a mutual ‘friend’, Jenny Summers (Lisa Eilbacher) who has since worked Mikey into a gig, working security for L.A. high roller, Victor Maitland (Steven Berkoff). One problem: Mikey stole bearer bonds from Victor's private stash. Now, it gets him murdered. After narrowly escaping a similar fate, Axel informs Todd he will be taking a leave of absence for a presumed vacation. Todd warns Axel not to pursue Mikey's homicide. Instead, Axel makes his way to the City of Angels. Almost immediately, he is met with Victor's violent opposition. A troop of Maitland’s goons sucker punch, then toss Axel through a plate glass window. Axel is placed under arrest for ‘disturbing the peace’ and confronted by Lt. Andrew Bogomil (Ronny Cox) and his two officers, Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and Sgt. John Taggart (John Ashton). Although all three sympathize with Axel's predicament and promise to look into Mikey's murder, they absolutely refuse to invest themselves in anything except procedural by-the-book investigative practices. Naturally, this conflicts with Axel's more intuitive powers of deduction. Axel finds Jenny working as the curator in one of Victor's art galleries. As their friendship rekindles, Axel and Jenny begin to realize Maitland is involved in illegal narcotics smuggling. But Axel must find the evidence to prove his case in order to establish a motive for Mikey’s murder while dodging Bogomil and brokering a truce with the impressionable Billy and more hard-assed Taggart. Ultimately, the comedy gives way to a slam-bang finish with Axel arriving at Maitland’s Beverly Hills’ mansion for a shootout in which no one – save the principals - is spared.

Daniel Petrie's screenplay deserves the real credit here. In as much as Eddie Murphy proves the master of adlib, it is Petrie's clever shaping of the buoyant buddy-buddy relationship between Axel, Taggart and Rosewood that really keeps the film's pace lively and electric. The male-bonding chemistry here is very good indeed; Rosewood’s immediate willingness to buck up Axel’s investigation, and Taggart’s stern giddiness, effortlessly dovetailing into Axel’s devil-may-care cleverness to conduct an investigation on his own terms.  Reportedly, director, Martin Brest flipped a coin to decide whether or not to do the film. After it became a smash hit, Brest had the quarter framed and hung on his wall as a good luck piece. In retrospect, Beverly Hills Cop had everything going for it. In reality, it might just as easily have been a disastrous flop. In the original script, Jenny Summers was Axel's lover and Mikey, his brother. When Eddie Murphy became cast in the lead, major rewrites became necessary - all of them in service to making the film an action/comedy instead. The 'cut and paste' work done on the final draft was still incomplete when cameras began to roll. To fill in the gaps, Brest relied on Murphy's genius for improvisation; Murphy, literally creating dialogue and situations on the spot and from scratch; diverting vignettes that only enhanced the overall structure and joy of the piece.

But no one could have anticipated the runaway success of Beverly Hills Cop; both critically and financially, a high-water mark of the 1980’s with the lion’s share of praise heaped upon Eddie Murphy for his ‘ghetto charm.’ Indeed, even British novelist, Christopher Hitchens considered the picture ‘flawless’. In its first 5 days, Beverly Hills Cop grossed $15,214,805, attaining the #1 box office spot for a whopping 13 weeks, and returning to the top slot one week later, tying Tootsie (1982) for the most weeks at the top. By the end of its U.S. theatrical run, the picture had grossed a staggering $234,760,478 – the biggest and brightest money maker of the year and the third highest-grossing R-rated movie ever made – falling just behind The Godfather (1972) and The Exorcist (1973). Eager to capitalize on the picture’s success, Paramount proposed a television franchise based on the movie – an offer Eddie Murphy balked at outright. He did, however, agree to a sequel, and thus the studio began assembling the necessary assets to launch big screen follow-up. Producers Simpson and Bruckheimer returned to the fray, contracting Tony Scott to direct. Scott was numero uno hot stuff on the Paramount backlot, thanks to Top Gun (1986). Alas, the production was not without its creative differences and behind-the-scenes calamities. For starters, plans to shoot a bigger, glossier production in London and Paris were scrapped when Eddie Murphy absolutely refused to work outside of the continental United States, pointing out that the franchise’s title alone suggested a return to the moneyed playgrounds of Beverly Hills. Hence, the screenplay by Larry Ferguson and Warren Skaaren took its cue from story ideas from Murphy and Robert D. Wachs.

The graver concern involved Don Simpson, whose recreational drug use and wanton lifestyle was gradually eroding his abilities to contribute to the production in meaningful ways.  Since the early eighties, Simpson’s cocaine habit had been common knowledge in Hollywood. Colleagues, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg tried to get Simpson into rehab but to no avail. It would not be until 1995, the year before his death, that Simpson would take their offer seriously. Alas, he chose the unorthodox ‘recovery’ program instituted by Dr. Stephen Ammerman whose own theory about using alternative drugs – including morphine – to combat withdrawal failed, even to save him; Ammerman, found dead in Simpson’s pool house from an overdose of cocaine, Valium, venlafaxine and morphine. That same year Bruckheimer, tired of making excuses for his producing partner, terminated their alliance shortly before work on The Rock (1996) began. Ultimately, the picture would outlive Simpson, who died on Jan. 19^th, 1996. His death, initially attributed to ‘natural causes’ was later revealed in an autopsy, as heart failure brought on by a deadly combination of 21 different drugs, including antidepressants, stimulants, sedatives, and tranquilizers.

Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) reunites virtually all of the original principle cast for another outing in these familiar stomping grounds of sunny California. Axel’s return is predicated on his determination to unearth the crime syndicate who tried to gun down Police Captain Andrew Bogomil, presently investigating the ‘Alphabet Crimes’ with Detective Billy Rosewood and Sergeant John Taggart. The picture opens with the ballsy broad-daylight robbery of Adrianna’s, a posh jewelry store in which unsuspecting patrons are terrorized by a statuesque blonde, Karla Fry (Brigitte Nielsen) and her goon squad; the nasty affair, orchestrated by Charles Caine Dean Stockwell), working for Maxwell Dent (Jürgen Prochnow). After the attempt on Bogomil’s life, Axel returns to Beverly Hills to do a little of his own undercover work, prompted by a phone call from the Captain’s daughter, Jan (Alice Adair).  Alas, the balance of power within the precinct has shifted; run by an incompetent and verbally abusive Chief, Harold Lutz (Allen Garfield) who is too busy kissing Mayor Ted Egan's (Robert Ridgley) backside to get to the bottom of the Alphabet Crimes. Enraged after Rosewood calls the FBI to help solve the case, Lutz holds Bogomil responsible and suspends him. Lutz also reduces Taggart and Rosewood to traffic duty. Newly arrived, Axel engages Taggart and Rosewood to assist him in solving the crime at hand.

Posing as an undercover FBI agent, Axel soon makes the connection between the robberies and Dent. Indeed, the ammunition fired at the robberies was custom-crafted by Cain, who manages the Beverly Hills gun club, owned by Dent. Axel has Jan use her connections as an insurance agent to find out about Dent's financial dealings. As it turns out, Dent is robbing his own businesses for the insurance claims, using these ill-gotten gains to finance illegal transactions with arms dealer, Nikos Thomopolis (Paul Guilfoyle). Meanwhile, having foiled a robbery at the bank depot, Axel bamboozles Dent's accountant, Sidney Bernstein (Gilbert Gottfried) into letting him use his computer, discovering Dent and Karla are planning to leave the country. Axel also learns from Jan, all of Dent’s businesses except his race track have had their insurance coverage canceled. Hurrying to the track, Axel solves the latest ‘alphabet riddle’ sent to the police, but is convinced it is a deliberate plant, designed to implicate Cain as the mastermind to throw them off Dent's trail. Having effectively set up Cain to take the fall, Dent now orders Cain to accompany Karla and her thug muscle on the robbery of the track. At the scene of the crime, Karla murders Cain, planting the gun of a dead security guard, thus making it look as though Cain was killed by the guard in self-defense.

Eager to put a period to the investigation, Lutz announces publicly that Cain was behind the Alphabet Crimes. However, Axel notices that the red mud at the track’s stables is identical to similar remnants discovered on Bogomil’s jogging shoes inside his closet at home. Realizing Bogomil was on to Dent, Axel, Taggart and Rosewood arrive at Dent's oil fields where Dent is making his final arms deal with Thomopolis. Engaging Dent and his men in a shootout, Alex makes chase, but is momentarily defeated by Dent, who escapes into the blackened warehouse. In his attempted getaway, Dent drives through a fragile wall, shot through the windshield by Axel, who is superficially struck by the car, which then careens down a steep embankment and bursts into flames.  Karla suddenly appears, gun drawn. She is foiled in her murder of Axel by Taggart, who discharges his pistol, shooting Karla dead instead. As the remnants of Thomopolis’ crew flee, police surround the area – thus, foiling their escape. Accompanied by Mayor Egan, Lutz severely censures Axel, and then publicly humiliates and fires Rosewood and Taggart for their insubordination. Having had quite enough of their superior officer, Taggart and Rosewood stand up to Lutz and reveal Dent as the real Alphabet Bandit. At last convinced of Lutz’s incompetence, Egan fires Lutz on the spot, hiring the newly recovered Bogomil as the new Chief of Police. Egan telephones Inspector Todd to congratulate him on his ‘loan out’ of Axel to help in their investigation. Unknowing of anything that has transpired, Todd chews out Axel over the phone.

While not quite the titanic hit of its predecessor, Beverly Hills Cop II was the most widely anticipated movie of 1987 and debuted at No. 1 at the box office, with an impressive $33 million on its opening weekend – the record-holder until that time. It’s final tally, $153,665,036, marked it as the second biggest world-wide hit of the year, behind Fatal Attraction. Critical reception, however, was mixed. While many cited the picture as being ‘as good as’ if not, in fact ‘better’ than the original, more than a handful of reviewers felt Part II an unimaginative ‘reboot’ of the first movie with no genuine contributions to recommend it. And these assessments were hardly complimented by Eddie Murphy’s outspoken ennui regarding the picture. “Beverly Hills Cop II was probably the most successful mediocre picture in history… it was a half-assed movie…basically a rehash of Cop I, but it wasn't as spontaneous and funny.” With all due respect to the naysayers, the sequel is more than serviceable and, in spots, cleverly engaging. Murphy’s return as the tart-talking Axel Foley is slightly watered down by the movie’s overall tone, darker and more involved in the crime-solving aspects. In hindsight, the first movie’s murder investigation is little more than window-dressing on which Eddie Murphy was allowed to do what Eddie Murphy does best – ad-lib some riotous skits that may not advance the plot, per say, but play as hilarious odes to his comedic genius.  

The box office success of Beverly Hills Cop II seemed to warrant another sequel. However, when asked about such a prospect in 1989, Eddie Murphy declined the offer, adding that if he ever conceded to make another movie, the only incentive would be an obscene paycheck. Ironically, this explains Beverly Hills Cop III (1994) to a tee; the screenplay by Steven E. de Souza, a notorious regurgitation of plot devices from the first two movies. The initial story had been focused on a rescue intervention by Foley, Rosewood, and Taggart to save Bogomil, newly kidnapped by terrorists in London while attending an international police convention. Production delays forced John Ashton and Ronny Cox to drop out of the picture, Taggart rewritten as John Flint (Héctor Elizondo) with dialogue to explain Taggart had since retired and moved to Phoenix. Oddly, Bogomil’s absence is never addressed. Rejected ideas also included a subplot to have dealt with Axel’s newfound celebrity and an unlikely pairing of Eddie Murphy with Sean Connery as a Scotland Yard detective, with John Cleese’s name also bandied about. Still toying with the idea of sending Axel to London, another draft of the screenplay embroiled Axel with British gangsters who, captured in Detroit, then murdered Axel’s good friend, Jeffrey (played in both previous movies by Paul Reiser), thus necessitating the ‘revenge’ scenario. Ultimately, Simpson and Bruckheimer rejected these scenarios as too close to the story line of the Michael Douglas actioner, Black Rain (1989).

Yet de Souza’s scenario, begun as ‘Die Hard in a theme park’ is not much better. Owing to the lackluster response to Eddie Murphy’s The Distinguished Gentleman (1992) Paramount slashed the budget for Beverly Hills Cop III; the studio’s outlay of $25 million, for a version to be set in New York, insulting Simpson and Bruckheimer – two of Paramount’s biggest and brightest moneymakers. Severing their relationship with the studio, Simpson and Bruckheimer were replaced, first – by Joel Silver, then, by Mace Neufeld and Robert Rehme whose recent ‘Jack Ryan’ trilogy of actioners (1991’s The Hunt for Red October, 1992’s Patriot Games, and 1994’s Clear and Present Danger) had proven real bell-ringers for Paramount. Insisting on more ‘investigating’ than ‘action’ – the script for Beverly Hills Cop III was reworked, production temporarily placed on hiatus while Paramount’s top brass grappled with the escalating budget – doubling to $55 million, before ballooning wildly out of control to $70 million, of which $15 was paid to its star. After Knott’s Berry Farm declined permission to shoot there, Paramount temporarily shuddered its own Great America theme park in Santa Clara to shoot some of the more lavishly appointed exterior action set pieces there. Beverly Hills Cop III would also take advantage of Universal Studio’s Stage 37, for the Land of the Dinosaurs finale, and Universal Studio’s Earthquake ride, with Walt Disney alumni, Robert B. and Richard M. Sherman writing the rather saccharine-heavy Wonder World theme song.

Rather predictably, Beverly Hills Cop III once again begins in Detroit as Axel plots to ambush some local car thieves at their chop shop. Unbeknownst to Inspector Todd, Axel has canceled the SWAT team for a quieter sting operation. Axel observes as a group of men pick up a cube van the thieves have hijacked. Out of sight, their leader confirms the van still contains its original cargo, before summarily executing all of the carjackers. Unaware of this coup, Axel, proceeds with his original sting operation, but quickly finds his team outgunned. Todd is fatally shot and the perpetrators escape in the van. Axel then gives chase, but is thwarted by Secret Service Agent Steve Fulbright (Stephen McHattie) who informs Axel the killers must remain at large as the federal government is after them too. At Todd's funeral, Axel unearths clues to suggest the killers are using Beverly Hills’ Wonder World theme park, a family run operation owned by ‘Uncle’ Dave Thornton (Alan Young) as their base of operation. Again, predictably, Axel turns up in Beverly Hills to learn Rosewood has since been promoted to Deputy Director of Operations for Joint Systems Interdepartmental Operational Command. Axel also meets Jon Flint (Hector Elizondo), Rosewood’s new partner after Taggart's retirement. Flint telephones Ellis DeWald (Timothy Carhart), the head of Wonder World's security.

Meanwhile, Axel befriends Janice Perkins (Theresa Randle) while making a casual inspection of the park’s behind-the-scenes facilities. Later, spotted by security, Axel is brutally attacked.  Retreating to the park’s surface, Axel cuts in line at the Spider Wheel. The guards, in hot pursuit, accidentally jam the ride, placing two pint-sized patrons in peril. Axel’s daring rescue of them leads to an impromptu meeting with Wonder World’s manager, Orrin Sanderson (John Saxon). When DeWald is called in to contest Axel’s claim he was attacked by security, Axel immediately identifies DeWald as Todd’s murderer. Alas, Rosewood and Flint cannot bring themselves to believe Axel’s accusation as DeWald has a peerless public reputation. But now, Uncle Dave and Janice return, informing Axel of the curious disappearance of one Roger Fry, a close friend and security guard, who vanished two weeks earlier while on a routine inspection of the park. Axel enters a restricted area and learns DeWald and Sanderson are operating their lucrative counterfeiting ring right under Uncle Dave’s nose. He also realizes DeWald’s trip to Detroit was to acquire blank printing paper used in the manufacture of American currency. Uncle Dave reveals Fry left behind a cryptic letter, and Axel, inspecting the paper on which it is written, finds it to be a sheet of stolen mint paper. Before he can reveal any of this, Dave is shot by DeWald and Axel is implicated in the shooting. Successfully eluding DeWald and taking Dave to hospital, Axel now returns to Wonder World in a full-on assault, ably assisted by Rosewood and Flint. In the ensuing battle, Axel dispatches with DeWald and his men. Agent Fulbright confesses Axel was right all along. Realizing his actual involvement with the counterfeiters, Axel shoots Fullbright dead. Uncle Dave makes a full recovery and, as thanks, christens a new character at Wonder World in his honor, Axel Fox.

Beverly Hills Cop III is a very odd – some might suggest ‘lame’ – duck. For one thing, it lacks the engagement of Ronny Cox and John Ashton as loveable cohorts. For another, Eddie Murphy is working against type. The Axel Foley we meet in Part III is very different from the one we have come to know and love in the first two installments of this franchise. Fair enough, Murphy is ten-years older here. And in fact, the alterations made to his character was deliberate on Murphy’s part, as he had hoped to mature Axel into more of an adult ‘action star’ a la Wesley Snipes – tempering the comedy to ‘play it straight.’ And while Murphy does do the action thing rather well, the changes are ill-timed and even more ill-placed within this franchise where comedy is not only expected, but ought to have been the primary objective. Co-star Bronson Pinchot would later suggest that Eddie Murphy was marginally depressed, not only by the movie’s plot, but equally by the fact his last few movies at Paramount had either failed to perform up to expectations, or worse, were outright financial and critical flops.  Whatever the reasons, Beverly Hills Cop III is not a great movie, either as a standalone or third installment in the franchise. It lacks the essential lithe concoction of good humor and stunt work we have come to expect from the series, and, is missing key figures from the past we know, love, and sincerely hoped to see again. In hindsight, the Beverly Hills Cop franchise basically took advantage of Murphy’s raw comedic talents, yielding one truly hilarious picture – the first – followed by another, competently made, before breaking its precepts down to bedrock with a final installment that can only be considered as thoroughly dull and unprepossessing.

For its 35^th anniversary, Paramount has, at long last, elected to make all 3 movies in the franchise available in hi-def state’s side. Paramount’s spotty track record with releasing Blu-ray’s of their time-honored catalog resulted in only the first movie ever finding its way to hi-def in North America back in 2009. While Parts II and III did eventually surface in Europe, only Part II was a ‘region free’ offering. At the time of these releases, image quality left something to be desired. I mean, not even basic image stabilization was applied then; credit sequences, bobbing and weaving on the screen, age-related artifacts present and occasionally glaring, and, finally, color saturation that was anemic at best. For this collector’s reissue, Paramount has gone back to original masters and deigned to offer each in a new 4K remastered upgrade (albeit, without a true 4K release). In 1080p, all three movies from this latest endeavor look quite attractive.  Color saturation on the whole is greatly improved. Flesh tones now appear quite natural, if leaning slightly into the pinkish register. Fine detail is vastly improved. We get textures and density previously absent; the grittiness of Detroit and pristine elegance of Beverly Hills, more deftly contrasted than ever. Grain structure looks far more appealing. The first movie advertises more film grain than its two follow-ups; likely due to film stocks and lighting conditions employed by cinematographer, Bruce Surtees. Jeffrey L. Kimball’s cinematography in Part II, opening the aperture from 1.85:1 to 2.35:1, is a slicker and more stylized affair, while Mac Ahlberg’s efforts in Part III, made a full 10-years after the original, reveals the gradual shift away from film-like photography at the movies. All 3 features have been afforded 5.1 DTS upgrades and, for the most part, sound wonderful. The original movie’s soundtrack is the most dated, lacking bass tonality, but thoroughly in keeping with vintage 80’s soundtracks. Only the re-issue of the first movie has been afforded extra features here: 2 never-before-seen deleted scenes, and, 4 behind-the-scenes featurettes, with new and vintage interviews. The original movie is also afforded an isolated track, showcasing Harold Faltermeyer’s original score, plus a BHC Mixtape ’84 option, allowing viewers to jump directly to scenes featuring such hit songs as Glenn Frey’s Oscar-nominated, The Heat Is On and Patti LaBelle’s Stir It Up, among others. We also get Martin Brest’s audio commentary, a hold-over from the original Blu-ray release and theatrical trailers for this and parts II and III. Bottom line: at least two of the three movies in the Beverly Hills Cop trilogy remind us of what Eddie Murphy’s career prospects, at their zenith, were capable of delivering.  Despite a few bright spots since, Murphy’s film career has not exactly aged well. But there is a lot of entertainment value to be had here. The new remasters, with their 4K improved image and sound quality, are much appreciated. Recommended!

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

Beverly Hills Cop – 4.5

Beverly Hills Cop II - 4

Beverly Hills Cop III – 2.5

VIDEO/AUDIO

Overall 4

EXTRAS

3