Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)

Directed by Tony Scott. Starring Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Jürgen Prochnow, Allen Garfield, Brigitte Nielsen, Ronny Cox, Paul Reiser, Dean Stockwell, Gil Hill, Brian O’Connor, Gilbert Gottfried, Paul Guilfoyle. [R]

Crude, soulless, sometimes even mean-spirited sequel finds Axel (Murphy) back in L.A., this time trying to thwart a gang of violent, pseudo-sophisticated arms-runners and robbers that gunned down Beverly Hills police captain Cox (an adversary of Murphy in the first film…now a good friend?). Scott brings his usual bag of polished, pumped-up visual tricks to make things look sleek and exciting, but the rehashed story is so threadbare, the comedy so anemic, and the tone so cold, that there’s nothing much to enjoy but the beautiful machine. It’s clear that Murphy is trying to make it work, but there’s too little spontaneity in his fast-talking routines; it sometimes feels like the filmmakers are treating them as filler while waiting to get back to more sun-dappled scenery shots and set pieces of destruction. A little bit of the old magic returns when Murphy, Reinhold and Ashton banter, but very little at that. Hugh Hefner cameos as himself; a young Chris Rock also shows up briefly.

37/100