July 8, 2024 • 25 mins
What if the beloved Axel Foley came out of retirement to solve one last case? Today, we dive deep into the complexities of creating a modern sequel to the iconic Beverly Hills Cop series. We brainstorm plot ideas, including Axel investigating his son's death in Beverly Hills, and reflect on how the internet has transformed our perception of places, making Axel’s fish-out-of-water dynamic more relevant than ever. We also discuss the importance of reviving original characters to keep the franchise’s spirit alive.
Next, we review the latest installment, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, celebrating Eddie Murphy's timeless charm as Axel Foley. From the iconic opening notes of "The Heat Is On" to Axel's classic jacket and Detroit scenes, the film masterfully balances nostalgia with fresh elements. While we appreciate its authentic feel, we critique its occasional over-reliance on nostalgic moments. The storyline, centered around Axel protecting his daughter, adds a grounded touch, making it a worthy addition to the franchise despite some predictable elements.
Lastly, we analyze the evolution of the Beverly Hills Cop series, particularly the shift in tone seen in the third installment. We imagine an exhilarating crossover between Beverly Hills Cop and Bad Boys, picturing a dynamic team-up of Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, and Will Smith. While we acknowledge the mixed critical reception of Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, we argue that the film provides enough humor and action to entertain. The return of Eddie Murphy alone injects fresh energy into the franchise, proving that it still has plenty of life left.
Next, we review the latest installment, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, celebrating Eddie Murphy's timeless charm as Axel Foley. From the iconic opening notes of "The Heat Is On" to Axel's classic jacket and Detroit scenes, the film masterfully balances nostalgia with fresh elements. While we appreciate its authentic feel, we critique its occasional over-reliance on nostalgic moments. The storyline, centered around Axel protecting his daughter, adds a grounded touch, making it a worthy addition to the franchise despite some predictable elements.
Lastly, we analyze the evolution of the Beverly Hills Cop series, particularly the shift in tone seen in the third installment. We imagine an exhilarating crossover between Beverly Hills Cop and Bad Boys, picturing a dynamic team-up of Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, and Will Smith. While we acknowledge the mixed critical reception of Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, we argue that the film provides enough humor and action to entertain. The return of Eddie Murphy alone injects fresh energy into the franchise, proving that it still has plenty of life left.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So hey, was it difficult making this.
Uh Was what difficult.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
The name change.
I noticed you changed your nameto Saunders.
Was that an easy transition?
Yeah, isn't this cool as Foleythough Foley makes me smile when
I say it.
Look, it's Foley.
No, is there more?
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Foley just sounds strong, it's punchier and has a
crispier thing to it Foley Jane.
Foley Jane Saunders.
Excuse me, how do you spellyour name?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
S-A-U-N-D-E-R-S Saunders.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Previously, previously, previously.
Speaker 5 (00:44):
On the Murphy Monday podcast and and I get it what
they were trying to do is makeeddie murphy a fish out of water
, which worked.
That's why the first movieworked.
He was.
He was out of his element.
You know, the problem is theproblem with now.
If we try to do a beverly hillscop movie today, we already
know what's going on in beverlyhills.
Like in the 80s, we didn't know, we didn't know, we didn't have
(01:05):
internet, we didn't have, likeyou know, a newspaper from
Beverly Hills, we didn't knowwhat was going on, so it was
easier to be a fish out of water.
Now the pond is so big thatwe're like I don't understand
how he can manage here If you'retalking about a future Beverly
Hills cop thing.
Speaker 6 (01:23):
but if you're doing it now, like I think, it
wouldn't actually be having itLike it, shouldn't he already?
Speaker 3 (01:27):
be like captain by now.
Like aren't we?
If he's still a detective,we're going to have real
problems, right?
Speaker 6 (01:33):
Well, I think my argument is that I think you're
right Is that they can't do thesame thing.
Speaker 5 (01:39):
I got one His.
His son moved to beverly hillsto become a police officer.
Yes, it's, it's killed in theline of duty.
Eddie murphy is now a retiredpolice officer living in detroit
.
Finds out his son is killed.
Goes out there to find out whomurdered his son that's possible
.
Speaker 6 (01:59):
Pretty good one, I.
I kind of like where nigel wasgoing with it.
Maybe, maybe bever BeverlyHills Cop is when the
repercussions of all the stuffof him being a wild man for
three movies is that he isretired and nobody helps him.
They couldn't promote himbecause they couldn't explain
giving a promotion to this dudewho just broke the law all the
time and just did whatever hewanted.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Well, I wasn't always a police officer Fractured a
law or two when I was a kid.
Speaker 6 (02:26):
Yeah, so they forced him to retire and he's been
somewhere and some shit goesdown.
He's got to come out ofretirement, but it's a different
police force and everybodydoesn't want to help him because
he's this wild and nobody knowswho he is.
Think about it Everybody'sprobably dead by now.
Speaker 5 (02:44):
In my mind.
Ogamill's dead in my mind, soyou know.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
I think Haxel F is actually going to be good it has
to be, but I think it's like, Idon't think that it's going to
be the funniest number one.
I don't think that it's goingto wow us, but I do think that
the nostalgia factor, kind oflike with the Come to America,
the nostalgia factor would makeus say, okay, this is a decent
(03:14):
movie.
You know, it will make us feellike, okay, taggart's in it.
Alright, Rosewood is in it.
Okay, cool, who else is in it?
Bronson Pinchot, I don't know.
I'm crossing my fingers hopingthat he is in it.
Okay, cool, who else is in it?
Bronson Pinchot, like I don'tknow.
I'm crossing my fingers hopingthat he's in it.
Speaker 7 (03:28):
Even if it's too second-rate, like that's all I
need, and sometimes you don'tgotta reinvent the wheel.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
What would make you say okay, I'm okay with this
movie?
Speaker 7 (03:39):
I would say that it would just have to make sense in
the sense of like a reason whyhe would come back to beverly
hills, uh, a reason why he wouldhave to go looking for whomever
he's looking for, um, to trackdown with, you know, with the
help of his buddy.
I want to see like as manypeople as they can bring back
(04:01):
that is alive or that is able todo it.
Like I said, I don't have anyexpectations.
As long as they cover thosegrounds, I get to see the actors
.
That was in the previous movies.
They have some of thethrowbacks from other movies and
the plot is decent.
I'm okay.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
We don't want it to be corny.
As long as it doesn't do that,as long as it doesn't suck, I'm
happy Like, you ain't got to donothing else, you just got to
just not make it suck.
You know there's a differencebetween House Party and House
Party 3 and House Party theremake.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
We've been waiting for a long time.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
Yes, we've been waiting for a long, long time.
Good morning my neighbor Jesus.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Christ, this is becoming very irritating.
Hey everybody, welcome toanother episode of the Murphy
Monday podcast, the only podcastthat celebrates the life and
career of Eddie Murphy.
I'm your host, nigel AFullerton, this week.
(05:16):
Beverly Hills Cop Axl F is a2024 American action film
(05:44):
directed by Mark Malloy, servingas the fourth installment in
the Beverly Hills Cop series anda sequel to Beverly Hills Cop 3
.
Eddie Murphy reprises his roleas Axl Foley, while Joseph
Gordon-Levitt, taylor Page andKevin Bacon star in new roles.
Axl Foley has returned toBeverly Hills after his daughter
Jane and his old partner BillyRosewood's lives are threatened.
(06:06):
She and Axl team up with herex-boyfriend Bobby Abbott and
his old pal John Taggart touncover a conspiracy.
What I wanted to do is just givea non-spoiler review before I
do the actual Beverly Hills CopAxl F episode, because I know a
lot of you haven't seen it.
(06:27):
You know, work, whatever.
Like I know it was 4th of Julyweekend, like you guys were
hanging out.
I get it.
I get it, but what you didn'tget is how dope this movie is.
I actually do like this movie.
I said it before.
I just wanted the movie not tosuck.
That's all I needed.
All I needed was for the movienot to suck, and it did its
(06:51):
thing well.
This isn't my first time inbeverly hills I saw that.
Speaker 8 (06:56):
did you ever read your own file?
This is is a lot Disturbing thePeace, various shootouts,
evading the police.
This is from 84.
Then there's one from 87.
And then 94.
Not your finest hour.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Now let me start with what I liked about the movie.
As soon as you turn this movieon, it feels like a Beverly
Hills Cop movie movie.
Like it starts off with theheat is on.
Who does that?
Who does that?
You know Eddie's wearing hisclassic jacket that he normally
(07:36):
wears in all the movies you getto see him riding around Detroit
.
It feels like a Beverly Hillscop movie and you can't mix it
with anything else.
Like this movie has beenoverdone many, many times.
Like we've seen movies thatlook like and feel like Beverly
Hills cop, but this is actuallywhen I turn this on I can tell
(07:58):
you that this is a Beverly Hillscop movie.
Second thing I liked about itwas that there was a decent
reason for Eddie to come toBeverly Hills.
Rather than someone gettingshot or dying or whatever trope
has been overused, he actuallyhad a reason.
His reason was because he'strying to protect his daughter,
(08:19):
which is commendable.
Number one, Number two you kindof get the feeling in the
beginning of the movie that himand his daughter don't have the
best relationship, so he'strying to mend it.
The third thing I liked aboutthis movie is that Eddie still
has the charm.
He still can crack some jokes.
I was surprised.
I was In the beginning.
(08:39):
I thought that maybe some ofthe jokes might have felt a
little flat, but they startedlanding and it started getting
better and better, and I likethat.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Who the pussy cloud you think you is calling this
place this time of night?
Haxel cut the shit.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Haxel, millen or Haxel, you dial the wrong number
.
What blood clot number youtrying to?
Speaker 3 (09:01):
reach.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Who is this?
The fourth thing I liked is thefact that I like seeing Eddie
as an older Axel Foley, Becauseif he came in here acting like
he was 22 years old when he'sactually 63, I would have turned
his movie off.
I'm telling you right now Ilike that.
I like the fact that we got agrounded, more seasoned Eddie
Murphy Now.
(09:22):
Granted, you still got the carchases and the gunshots and all
the other stuff in an actionmovie, but you got Axel Foley at
63.
Sometimes he can't be thefast-talking guy he once was.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
May I help you sir?
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Yes, I'm Nigel Applebottom with Bon Appetit and
I was wondering.
I'm going to hell with this.
I'm Nigel Applebottom with BonAppetit and I was wondering.
Speaker 5 (09:42):
I'm going to hell with this, I'm just too tired.
Do you have any rooms available?
Speaker 4 (09:49):
You're in luck I've got a beautiful resort view room
.
Speaker 7 (09:52):
Oh great, I'll take that.
Speaker 6 (09:53):
Wonderful.
The rate is $940 a night plustax.
Speaker 7 (09:58):
I love Beverly Hills.
I love Beverly.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Hills, everything that worked when you were 22 is
not going to work when you're 63.
And I think that proves itspoint in this movie.
And I think Eddie realized thatIf I had one critique of this
movie, it would be that it usednostalgia as a crutch.
I didn't like that.
Be that it used nostalgia as acrutch, I didn't like that.
(10:24):
Um, for a movie that we all lovebeverly hills, cop and we've
seen the sequels beverly hills,cop 2, beverly hills, cop 3
there's been about 40 yearsbetween when the first movie
came out and when this moviecomes out.
And yes, there's a lot of stuffthat happened within those 40
years.
But we don't need to bebombarded with all the nostalgia
.
Like you can give us some, likeyou, like you know again, I
(10:48):
like the fact that they playedthe heat is on in the beginning.
But there's so much nostalgialike you're jamming it down our
throats in this movie.
Like we know we're going to getthe beverly hills cop theme
song.
Like you don't have to keepplaying it all over and over
again.
You know, it's kind of the sameproblem that we had with coming
to America, where they justkept giving us nostalgia when
(11:10):
the jokes weren't landing and Ifelt like it was happening in
this movie a little bit morethan what I what it needed to.
But I wasn't mad because themovie kept flowing.
It didn't feel stale to me, itdidn't feel like all right.
Well, here we go again.
It didn't feel that bad andthat's what I liked about it.
(11:31):
Now, granted, everybody's notgonna like what I like.
If you go to Rotten Tomatoesright now, the tomato reader for
the critics is at 66%, which isfavorable, because the first
beverly hills cop was at 80.
Second beverly hills cop is at48, the third is at 11, so you
(11:51):
see a decline, but then you seea rise into what's happening
with these movies and that'swhat I like.
I like the fact that we have amovie in 2024 for a franchise
that was dead.
This move, this franchise wasdead.
They were not making any more.
They tried to for about 20years.
They made a pilot which was notbad, but it wasn't beverly
(12:14):
hills cop.
They were trying to give yousomething different.
This movie feels and looks andacts and sounds and tastes like
a Beverly Hills cop movie.
I've been getting text messagesall weekend about how people
like the movie.
They want to know what I feltand I want to know how they felt
.
And it was unanimous.
Speaker 5 (12:38):
At the tone.
Please record your message.
When you have finishedrecording, you may hang up or
press 1 for more options.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
Nigel, this is so good.
This fucking sequel was so good.
I laughed, I cried, I hollered.
My neighbors are probably likeyo, what the fuck is wrong with
her?
It's so fucking good.
Nigel the pod has to dosomething with this.
It's fantastic.
They waited 30 years and it'sstill so.
(13:08):
It's, dare I say it's betterthan the original.
I don't know, I don't know,that's wild.
It is a fucking fantasticsequel.
They did it justice, like fromthe first 30 seconds.
I was sold.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
It's so good look, man, we're talking one of the
greatest franchises of all time.
When he first did beverly hillscop the first one it almost
wasn't him in the movie.
You know what he did the movieand it changed movies after that
the whole cop cop dynamic.
It became funny movies, lethalWeapon, all those movies that
(13:43):
came after that and he reallychanged the game on that.
It's an important movie to payhomage to.
It was really funny.
It did what I thought it wasgoing to do.
The jokes were there, the castwas there.
The fact that they're all stillalive is amazing and the fact
that Eddie Murphy looks likehe's 30 still is amazing.
He he's still very funny and Ihope he comes back to stand-up
soon.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
No problem.
Like I said before, I went inwith very low expectations
because people were talking alittle bit of shit about it
through the interwebs and socialmedias, as they do.
Also, I went in with lowexpectations because of the
Coming to america sequel thatthey came out with a few years
back and I was disappointed bythat one.
(14:27):
So I went in with real lowexpectations, you know, not
really looking for it to be good, and surprisingly I enjoyed it.
It was really good and, like Isaid, the writers, um, did a
really good job of paying homageto the first two and kind of
updating this one, but but stillholding on to that Beverly
(14:47):
Hills cop, feel it was cool man.
I really enjoyed it and it hadnone of the humor, seemed for it
.
It was like Eddie was like theold Eddie, but an old Eddie if
that makes sense.
It makes sense, but an oldEddie, if that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
It makes sense.
I think like I got into it withsomebody about this yesterday
where they felt like it shouldhave been more laughs?
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Nah, I don't think so .
I think they had the rightamount.
I mean, if you go back andwatch the old Beverly Hills Cops
, it wasn't like all over funny,like laughs all the time.
It had like certain spots, andI believe that it had that same
type of timing in this one, likeI think people's nostalgia take
over to be like, oh it just itwasn't fallout hilarious funny.
(15:34):
Well, the original BeverlyHills Cop wasn't that either.
It was funny.
It was funny to tell.
It was like it had its moments.
It wasn't like if I can make itmake sense, it wasn't like
Nutty Professor, where NuttyProfessor is like constant boom,
boom, like punch, punch, punch,punch.
It's like, oh my God, like I'm,you know, having a hard time
breathing because it's just jokeafter joke after joke after
(15:55):
joke going running through.
You know what I'm saying.
The Beverly Hills Cop, theoriginals, to me, didn't follow
that type of timing.
It was always a scenario andEddie being Eddie and the funny
was there.
But also it balanced a gooddeal of the.
You know the, the story in thisone about the corruption, about
(16:15):
the.
Well, I don't know if you wantto do spoilers.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Yeah, I'm not doing spoilers for this one.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Sorry about that, so, but I mean people got.
I mean, if you're fucking smart, you know where it's going.
But I mean in terms of thestory, the seriousness of the
story and balancing theinteraction between him and the
young lady who played hisdaughter, which I think she did
an excellent job.
Gordon Leavitt was good in this.
I was surprised.
I like him as an actor, don'tget me wrong but.
(16:42):
I didn't know if he was going tobe able to, um, if he was going
to be able to hang in therewith eddie in terms of the
comedic chops, right, but he hedid, he did his thing and plus,
you know what?
That's funny for me to eventhink that, because he's been a
serious actor for so long.
But we forget that he was onthird rock from the sun, exactly
, so he so he was a comedicactor when he was a teenager.
But, um, yeah, man, I enjoyedit.
(17:04):
Now, it wasn't as good as myidea.
I had an idea for how to bringbeverly hills cop or make it
more, um, make it more modernthan like some years ago, and my
idea, if I could share it here,if you don't mind go for it was
my original idea because youknow the the beverly hills cop
ip had been laying dormant formany years, especially after the
(17:24):
thirdone, and my belief was that they
should have.
You know, at the height of whenyou know he had these cross
universes and stuff, I thoughtAxel Foley should have been
brought back in the Bad Boysuniverse or made the Bad Boys
universe cross over with theBeverlyly hills cop universe and
my idea was to kill off uh, Iforgot my man's name, joe
(17:47):
pantanillo, I think his name isthe guy who played the boss,
yeah, the the chief.
I thought that.
I thought that he should havebeen killed off in one of the
sequels, like the second.
Well, he was killed off in thethird right but I thought he
should have been killed off inthe second and then actually
foley became their new headdetective or head or chief of
their of the narcotics division,or something like that.
(18:09):
That's how I thought theyshould have updated the.
You know, if they was going todo it years ago right but um
them staying with the beverlyhills cop ip the way it is with
this sequel.
It was good.
They did a good job.
They avoided all of thepitfalls of the coming to
America and what they, you know,trying to force humor and stuff
like that.
This was just an organic actionmovie.
It really felt like a classicaction movie from the 80s, early
(18:33):
90s, like the Lethal Weaponsand stuff like that.
It felt like that again.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Now, why do you think critics are so critical of this
movie?
Why?
Speaker 3 (18:42):
do you think critics are so critical of this movie
Because of nostalgia?
Nostalgia is a hell of a thing.
People have in their mind whatthey think the originals were,
when this is really what theoriginal was.
I think people go on with a lotof high expectations because
it's Eddie Murphy and Eddie doesa really good job of not
oversaturating himself in thepublic zeitgeist and he gives
(19:03):
you just enough.
And because he only gives youenough, you expect it to be this
big and, you know, crazy thingwhen you have to just enjoy it
for what it is.
I think people's expectationand what it ends up being is
where the problem is.
Go back and watch the original.
This one follows the sametiming, comedic timing and
(19:25):
balance of stories as the othertwo the first two.
The third one was more like aPG-13 Disney type.
It was almost like a familymovie.
It didn't have that same vibe.
It was kind of corny.
My thing about the third one isthat I felt like it didn't have
that same vibe.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
It was kind of corny.
Well, my thing about the thirdone my thing about the third one
is that I felt like it wastrying to tell more jokes.
I felt like it was trying to befunny.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Right, right, right, it was more of a trying to be
more of a.
Yeah, you're right, it was likeit was trying to be more of a
comedy versus just balancing thestory and balancing it.
But even the comedy Comedy,like I said, was tame.
Even in the third one it wastame in comparison to the first
two.
So it was like, yeah, it wascomedy, but it was comedy in the
way of, like Dr Doolittle, youknow what I'm saying it was.
(20:11):
It's like nah, if you're goingto be Beverly Hills Cop, let it
be.
Let it still keep its edge, letit still be in the vein of the
lethal weapons and you know allof that that came in that same
time period.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
Right.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
It was like it was like they were trying to make it
a family movie.
I was like it's not a familymovie.
I knew that as a kid watchingI'm like what is this shit, you
know?
But uh no, I enjoyed it, man,it was, it was dope, it was ill.
Um, I'm going to see where thatgoes, but I think I personally
(20:44):
think they could still do across universe between the Bad
Boys universe and the BeverlyHills Cop universe.
That would be dope To seeMartin Will and Eddie all on one
case doing this, and it wouldbe great to do before they get
too old, because Eddie's already60.
Right.
You know what I'm saying.
Martin may have some type ofissues going on with him
health-wise and I haven't seenthat one yet.
(21:07):
And Will is still.
You know, Will is still doinghis thing, so it'll be ill for
them to cross their universes.
I think that'll be a greatthing.
I think that will sell crazytickets.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Well, I'd love to see it, definitely.
You know, Ladies and gentlemen,thank you, Ibrahim Khalif.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Yeah, no problem, man , thank you.
Thanks for having me, it's anhonor.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Anytime Now.
This wouldn't be an EddieMurphy film without there being
mixed criticism.
The audience score for thismovie was 80%.
However, the critiques werefavorable, but some harsh.
Robert Daniels, a critic fromthe New York Times, says that
Beverly Hills Cop Axl F it'sbusted.
(21:52):
He says that Eddie Murphystruggles to revive the more
bound action comedy franchise.
In conclusion of what he wassaying about the movie, he says
the worst parts involve lazyallusions to better films.
A climactic shootout in amansion attempting to blend the
gunfight from the first BeverlyHills Cop with Scarface is
(22:14):
tedious and unremarkable.
While this installment isn'tnearly as woeful as Beverly
Hills Cop 3, it doesn't have thecharm or energy of the first
two films either.
It's a limp, desperate actioncomedy with few memorable
moments.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Now, I've been hearing that.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
I've been hearing that this movie is a cash grab,
and I don't understand what theymean by that.
Corey Coleman from DoubleToasted said that Beverly Hills
Cop Axl F plays it safe.
These are reheated jokes thattaste good here and there, but
it was better when it was fresh.
Brian Telerico fromRogerEbertcom says that, from
(22:53):
the beginning, Beverly Hills CopAxl F is buoyant and playful in
a way that legacy sequelsusually aren't allowed to be.
Carla Hay from Culture Mix saysBeverly Hills Cop Axl F relies
heavily on nostalgia and atransparently predictable plot.
However, this lively sequelovercomes its weaknesses with
(23:18):
some funny moments, well-castnew characters and plenty of
expected action spectacles.
Now, granted, nothing aboutBeverly Hills Cop is new, fresh
or exciting.
To be honest, beverly Hills Copthe movie birthed a whole bunch
of other movies, like theWeapon, rush Hour, bad Boys, you
(23:40):
name it.
It's influenced every singleone of those movies.
The problem is that this movieis about 40 years in the making
on for the concept that was made40 years ago, so it's going to
fall into the same tropes ofwhat a quote-unquote action
(24:00):
comedy is now.
This movie is not reinventingthe wheel.
It can't, because it startedthe wheel.
So if you're looking for thismovie to reinvent something or
have some kind of highexpectation is not.
That's not why you're here towatch this movie.
You're here to have fun, and ifyou watch this movie and have
(24:23):
fun with it, you will like it.
Now I've heard people.
People have texted me and saidthat they like this more than
they like beverly hills cop 2.
Now, that's a higher bar thanbeverly hills cop 3, but they
they're telling me that afterbeverly hills cop, they like
this movie.
I feel a lot of people came inthis with high expectations and
(24:46):
you can't Not with a movie thathasn't had a sequel in 30 years
Understand that we're seeing arebirth of Eddie Murphy.
He's not going to be the sameperson he used to be, but it is
great to see him and I'm herefor it.
If you haven't by now, pleaselike, share and subscribe.
Tell Nettie Murphy fans andtell Nettie Murphy fans that you
love this podcast and, with allhearts and minds clear, let's
(25:11):
end this show.
So hey, was it difficult making this.
Uh Was what difficult.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
The name change.
I noticed you changed your nameto Saunders.
Was that an easy transition?
Yeah, isn't this cool as Foleythough Foley makes me smile when
I say it.
Look, it's Foley.
No, is there more?
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Foley just sounds strong, it's punchier and has a
crispier thing to it Foley Jane.
Foley Jane Saunders.
Excuse me, how do you spellyour name?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
S-A-U-N-D-E-R-S Saunders.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Previously, previously, previously.
Speaker 5 (00:44):
On the Murphy Monday podcast and and I get it what
they were trying to do is makeeddie murphy a fish out of water
, which worked.
That's why the first movieworked.
He was.
He was out of his element.
You know, the problem is theproblem with now.
If we try to do a beverly hillscop movie today, we already
know what's going on in beverlyhills.
Like in the 80s, we didn't know, we didn't know, we didn't have
(01:05):
internet, we didn't have, likeyou know, a newspaper from
Beverly Hills, we didn't knowwhat was going on, so it was
easier to be a fish out of water.
Now the pond is so big thatwe're like I don't understand
how he can manage here If you'retalking about a future Beverly
Hills cop thing.
Speaker 6 (01:23):
but if you're doing it now, like I think, it
wouldn't actually be having itLike it, shouldn't he already?
Speaker 3 (01:27):
be like captain by now.
Like aren't we?
If he's still a detective,we're going to have real
problems, right?
Speaker 6 (01:33):
Well, I think my argument is that I think you're
right Is that they can't do thesame thing.
Speaker 5 (01:39):
I got one His.
His son moved to beverly hillsto become a police officer.
Yes, it's, it's killed in theline of duty.
Eddie murphy is now a retiredpolice officer living in detroit
.
Finds out his son is killed.
Goes out there to find out whomurdered his son that's possible
.
Speaker 6 (01:59):
Pretty good one, I.
I kind of like where nigel wasgoing with it.
Maybe, maybe bever BeverlyHills Cop is when the
repercussions of all the stuffof him being a wild man for
three movies is that he isretired and nobody helps him.
They couldn't promote himbecause they couldn't explain
giving a promotion to this dudewho just broke the law all the
time and just did whatever hewanted.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Well, I wasn't always a police officer Fractured a
law or two when I was a kid.
Speaker 6 (02:26):
Yeah, so they forced him to retire and he's been
somewhere and some shit goesdown.
He's got to come out ofretirement, but it's a different
police force and everybodydoesn't want to help him because
he's this wild and nobody knowswho he is.
Think about it Everybody'sprobably dead by now.
Speaker 5 (02:44):
In my mind.
Ogamill's dead in my mind, soyou know.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
I think Haxel F is actually going to be good it has
to be, but I think it's like, Idon't think that it's going to
be the funniest number one.
I don't think that it's goingto wow us, but I do think that
the nostalgia factor, kind oflike with the Come to America,
the nostalgia factor would makeus say, okay, this is a decent
(03:14):
movie.
You know, it will make us feellike, okay, taggart's in it.
Alright, Rosewood is in it.
Okay, cool, who else is in it?
Bronson Pinchot, I don't know.
I'm crossing my fingers hopingthat he is in it.
Okay, cool, who else is in it?
Bronson Pinchot, like I don'tknow.
I'm crossing my fingers hopingthat he's in it.
Speaker 7 (03:28):
Even if it's too second-rate, like that's all I
need, and sometimes you don'tgotta reinvent the wheel.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
What would make you say okay, I'm okay with this
movie?
Speaker 7 (03:39):
I would say that it would just have to make sense in
the sense of like a reason whyhe would come back to beverly
hills, uh, a reason why he wouldhave to go looking for whomever
he's looking for, um, to trackdown with, you know, with the
help of his buddy.
I want to see like as manypeople as they can bring back
(04:01):
that is alive or that is able todo it.
Like I said, I don't have anyexpectations.
As long as they cover thosegrounds, I get to see the actors
.
That was in the previous movies.
They have some of thethrowbacks from other movies and
the plot is decent.
I'm okay.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
We don't want it to be corny.
As long as it doesn't do that,as long as it doesn't suck, I'm
happy Like, you ain't got to donothing else, you just got to
just not make it suck.
You know there's a differencebetween House Party and House
Party 3 and House Party theremake.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
We've been waiting for a long time.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
Yes, we've been waiting for a long, long time.
Good morning my neighbor Jesus.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Christ, this is becoming very irritating.
Hey everybody, welcome toanother episode of the Murphy
Monday podcast, the only podcastthat celebrates the life and
career of Eddie Murphy.
I'm your host, nigel AFullerton, this week.
(05:16):
Beverly Hills Cop Axl F is a2024 American action film
(05:44):
directed by Mark Malloy, servingas the fourth installment in
the Beverly Hills Cop series anda sequel to Beverly Hills Cop 3
.
Eddie Murphy reprises his roleas Axl Foley, while Joseph
Gordon-Levitt, taylor Page andKevin Bacon star in new roles.
Axl Foley has returned toBeverly Hills after his daughter
Jane and his old partner BillyRosewood's lives are threatened.
(06:06):
She and Axl team up with herex-boyfriend Bobby Abbott and
his old pal John Taggart touncover a conspiracy.
What I wanted to do is just givea non-spoiler review before I
do the actual Beverly Hills CopAxl F episode, because I know a
lot of you haven't seen it.
(06:27):
You know, work, whatever.
Like I know it was 4th of Julyweekend, like you guys were
hanging out.
I get it.
I get it, but what you didn'tget is how dope this movie is.
I actually do like this movie.
I said it before.
I just wanted the movie not tosuck.
That's all I needed.
All I needed was for the movienot to suck, and it did its
(06:51):
thing well.
This isn't my first time inbeverly hills I saw that.
Speaker 8 (06:56):
did you ever read your own file?
This is is a lot Disturbing thePeace, various shootouts,
evading the police.
This is from 84.
Then there's one from 87.
And then 94.
Not your finest hour.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Now let me start with what I liked about the movie.
As soon as you turn this movieon, it feels like a Beverly
Hills Cop movie movie.
Like it starts off with theheat is on.
Who does that?
Who does that?
You know Eddie's wearing hisclassic jacket that he normally
(07:36):
wears in all the movies you getto see him riding around Detroit
.
It feels like a Beverly Hillscop movie and you can't mix it
with anything else.
Like this movie has beenoverdone many, many times.
Like we've seen movies thatlook like and feel like Beverly
Hills cop, but this is actuallywhen I turn this on I can tell
(07:58):
you that this is a Beverly Hillscop movie.
Second thing I liked about itwas that there was a decent
reason for Eddie to come toBeverly Hills.
Rather than someone gettingshot or dying or whatever trope
has been overused, he actuallyhad a reason.
His reason was because he'strying to protect his daughter,
(08:19):
which is commendable.
Number one, Number two you kindof get the feeling in the
beginning of the movie that himand his daughter don't have the
best relationship, so he'strying to mend it.
The third thing I liked aboutthis movie is that Eddie still
has the charm.
He still can crack some jokes.
I was surprised.
I was In the beginning.
(08:39):
I thought that maybe some ofthe jokes might have felt a
little flat, but they startedlanding and it started getting
better and better, and I likethat.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Who the pussy cloud you think you is calling this
place this time of night?
Haxel cut the shit.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Haxel, millen or Haxel, you dial the wrong number
.
What blood clot number youtrying to?
Speaker 3 (09:01):
reach.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Who is this?
The fourth thing I liked is thefact that I like seeing Eddie
as an older Axel Foley, Becauseif he came in here acting like
he was 22 years old when he'sactually 63, I would have turned
his movie off.
I'm telling you right now Ilike that.
I like the fact that we got agrounded, more seasoned Eddie
Murphy Now.
(09:22):
Granted, you still got the carchases and the gunshots and all
the other stuff in an actionmovie, but you got Axel Foley at
63.
Sometimes he can't be thefast-talking guy he once was.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
May I help you sir?
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Yes, I'm Nigel Applebottom with Bon Appetit and
I was wondering.
I'm going to hell with this.
I'm Nigel Applebottom with BonAppetit and I was wondering.
Speaker 5 (09:42):
I'm going to hell with this, I'm just too tired.
Do you have any rooms available?
Speaker 4 (09:49):
You're in luck I've got a beautiful resort view room
.
Speaker 7 (09:52):
Oh great, I'll take that.
Speaker 6 (09:53):
Wonderful.
The rate is $940 a night plustax.
Speaker 7 (09:58):
I love Beverly Hills.
I love Beverly.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Hills, everything that worked when you were 22 is
not going to work when you're 63.
And I think that proves itspoint in this movie.
And I think Eddie realized thatIf I had one critique of this
movie, it would be that it usednostalgia as a crutch.
I didn't like that.
Be that it used nostalgia as acrutch, I didn't like that.
(10:24):
Um, for a movie that we all lovebeverly hills, cop and we've
seen the sequels beverly hills,cop 2, beverly hills, cop 3
there's been about 40 yearsbetween when the first movie
came out and when this moviecomes out.
And yes, there's a lot of stuffthat happened within those 40
years.
But we don't need to bebombarded with all the nostalgia
.
Like you can give us some, likeyou, like you know again, I
(10:48):
like the fact that they playedthe heat is on in the beginning.
But there's so much nostalgialike you're jamming it down our
throats in this movie.
Like we know we're going to getthe beverly hills cop theme
song.
Like you don't have to keepplaying it all over and over
again.
You know, it's kind of the sameproblem that we had with coming
to America, where they justkept giving us nostalgia when
(11:10):
the jokes weren't landing and Ifelt like it was happening in
this movie a little bit morethan what I what it needed to.
But I wasn't mad because themovie kept flowing.
It didn't feel stale to me, itdidn't feel like all right.
Well, here we go again.
It didn't feel that bad andthat's what I liked about it.
(11:31):
Now, granted, everybody's notgonna like what I like.
If you go to Rotten Tomatoesright now, the tomato reader for
the critics is at 66%, which isfavorable, because the first
beverly hills cop was at 80.
Second beverly hills cop is at48, the third is at 11, so you
(11:51):
see a decline, but then you seea rise into what's happening
with these movies and that'swhat I like.
I like the fact that we have amovie in 2024 for a franchise
that was dead.
This move, this franchise wasdead.
They were not making any more.
They tried to for about 20years.
They made a pilot which was notbad, but it wasn't beverly
(12:14):
hills cop.
They were trying to give yousomething different.
This movie feels and looks andacts and sounds and tastes like
a Beverly Hills cop movie.
I've been getting text messagesall weekend about how people
like the movie.
They want to know what I feltand I want to know how they felt
.
And it was unanimous.
Speaker 5 (12:38):
At the tone.
Please record your message.
When you have finishedrecording, you may hang up or
press 1 for more options.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
Nigel, this is so good.
This fucking sequel was so good.
I laughed, I cried, I hollered.
My neighbors are probably likeyo, what the fuck is wrong with
her?
It's so fucking good.
Nigel the pod has to dosomething with this.
It's fantastic.
They waited 30 years and it'sstill so.
(13:08):
It's, dare I say it's betterthan the original.
I don't know, I don't know,that's wild.
It is a fucking fantasticsequel.
They did it justice, like fromthe first 30 seconds.
I was sold.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
It's so good look, man, we're talking one of the
greatest franchises of all time.
When he first did beverly hillscop the first one it almost
wasn't him in the movie.
You know what he did the movieand it changed movies after that
the whole cop cop dynamic.
It became funny movies, lethalWeapon, all those movies that
(13:43):
came after that and he reallychanged the game on that.
It's an important movie to payhomage to.
It was really funny.
It did what I thought it wasgoing to do.
The jokes were there, the castwas there.
The fact that they're all stillalive is amazing and the fact
that Eddie Murphy looks likehe's 30 still is amazing.
He he's still very funny and Ihope he comes back to stand-up
soon.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
No problem.
Like I said before, I went inwith very low expectations
because people were talking alittle bit of shit about it
through the interwebs and socialmedias, as they do.
Also, I went in with lowexpectations because of the
Coming to america sequel thatthey came out with a few years
back and I was disappointed bythat one.
(14:27):
So I went in with real lowexpectations, you know, not
really looking for it to be good, and surprisingly I enjoyed it.
It was really good and, like Isaid, the writers, um, did a
really good job of paying homageto the first two and kind of
updating this one, but but stillholding on to that Beverly
(14:47):
Hills cop, feel it was cool man.
I really enjoyed it and it hadnone of the humor, seemed for it
.
It was like Eddie was like theold Eddie, but an old Eddie if
that makes sense.
It makes sense, but an oldEddie, if that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
It makes sense.
I think like I got into it withsomebody about this yesterday
where they felt like it shouldhave been more laughs?
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Nah, I don't think so .
I think they had the rightamount.
I mean, if you go back andwatch the old Beverly Hills Cops
, it wasn't like all over funny,like laughs all the time.
It had like certain spots, andI believe that it had that same
type of timing in this one, likeI think people's nostalgia take
over to be like, oh it just itwasn't fallout hilarious funny.
(15:34):
Well, the original BeverlyHills Cop wasn't that either.
It was funny.
It was funny to tell.
It was like it had its moments.
It wasn't like if I can make itmake sense, it wasn't like
Nutty Professor, where NuttyProfessor is like constant boom,
boom, like punch, punch, punch,punch.
It's like, oh my God, like I'm,you know, having a hard time
breathing because it's just jokeafter joke after joke after
(15:55):
joke going running through.
You know what I'm saying.
The Beverly Hills Cop, theoriginals, to me, didn't follow
that type of timing.
It was always a scenario andEddie being Eddie and the funny
was there.
But also it balanced a gooddeal of the.
You know the, the story in thisone about the corruption, about
(16:15):
the.
Well, I don't know if you wantto do spoilers.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Yeah, I'm not doing spoilers for this one.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Sorry about that, so, but I mean people got.
I mean, if you're fucking smart, you know where it's going.
But I mean in terms of thestory, the seriousness of the
story and balancing theinteraction between him and the
young lady who played hisdaughter, which I think she did
an excellent job.
Gordon Leavitt was good in this.
I was surprised.
I like him as an actor, don'tget me wrong but.
(16:42):
I didn't know if he was going tobe able to, um, if he was going
to be able to hang in therewith eddie in terms of the
comedic chops, right, but he hedid, he did his thing and plus,
you know what?
That's funny for me to eventhink that, because he's been a
serious actor for so long.
But we forget that he was onthird rock from the sun, exactly
, so he so he was a comedicactor when he was a teenager.
But, um, yeah, man, I enjoyedit.
(17:04):
Now, it wasn't as good as myidea.
I had an idea for how to bringbeverly hills cop or make it
more, um, make it more modernthan like some years ago, and my
idea, if I could share it here,if you don't mind go for it was
my original idea because youknow the the beverly hills cop
ip had been laying dormant formany years, especially after the
(17:24):
thirdone, and my belief was that they
should have.
You know, at the height of whenyou know he had these cross
universes and stuff, I thoughtAxel Foley should have been
brought back in the Bad Boysuniverse or made the Bad Boys
universe cross over with theBeverlyly hills cop universe and
my idea was to kill off uh, Iforgot my man's name, joe
(17:47):
pantanillo, I think his name isthe guy who played the boss,
yeah, the the chief.
I thought that.
I thought that he should havebeen killed off in one of the
sequels, like the second.
Well, he was killed off in thethird right but I thought he
should have been killed off inthe second and then actually
foley became their new headdetective or head or chief of
their of the narcotics division,or something like that.
(18:09):
That's how I thought theyshould have updated the.
You know, if they was going todo it years ago right but um
them staying with the beverlyhills cop ip the way it is with
this sequel.
It was good.
They did a good job.
They avoided all of thepitfalls of the coming to
America and what they, you know,trying to force humor and stuff
like that.
This was just an organic actionmovie.
It really felt like a classicaction movie from the 80s, early
(18:33):
90s, like the Lethal Weaponsand stuff like that.
It felt like that again.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Now, why do you think critics are so critical of this
movie?
Why?
Speaker 3 (18:42):
do you think critics are so critical of this movie
Because of nostalgia?
Nostalgia is a hell of a thing.
People have in their mind whatthey think the originals were,
when this is really what theoriginal was.
I think people go on with a lotof high expectations because
it's Eddie Murphy and Eddie doesa really good job of not
oversaturating himself in thepublic zeitgeist and he gives
(19:03):
you just enough.
And because he only gives youenough, you expect it to be this
big and, you know, crazy thingwhen you have to just enjoy it
for what it is.
I think people's expectationand what it ends up being is
where the problem is.
Go back and watch the original.
This one follows the sametiming, comedic timing and
(19:25):
balance of stories as the othertwo the first two.
The third one was more like aPG-13 Disney type.
It was almost like a familymovie.
It didn't have that same vibe.
It was kind of corny.
My thing about the third one isthat I felt like it didn't have
that same vibe.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
It was kind of corny.
Well, my thing about the thirdone my thing about the third one
is that I felt like it wastrying to tell more jokes.
I felt like it was trying to befunny.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Right, right, right, it was more of a trying to be
more of a.
Yeah, you're right, it was likeit was trying to be more of a
comedy versus just balancing thestory and balancing it.
But even the comedy Comedy,like I said, was tame.
Even in the third one it wastame in comparison to the first
two.
So it was like, yeah, it wascomedy, but it was comedy in the
way of, like Dr Doolittle, youknow what I'm saying it was.
(20:11):
It's like nah, if you're goingto be Beverly Hills Cop, let it
be.
Let it still keep its edge, letit still be in the vein of the
lethal weapons and you know allof that that came in that same
time period.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
Right.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
It was like it was like they were trying to make it
a family movie.
I was like it's not a familymovie.
I knew that as a kid watchingI'm like what is this shit, you
know?
But uh no, I enjoyed it, man,it was, it was dope, it was ill.
Um, I'm going to see where thatgoes, but I think I personally
(20:44):
think they could still do across universe between the Bad
Boys universe and the BeverlyHills Cop universe.
That would be dope To seeMartin Will and Eddie all on one
case doing this, and it wouldbe great to do before they get
too old, because Eddie's already60.
Right.
You know what I'm saying.
Martin may have some type ofissues going on with him
health-wise and I haven't seenthat one yet.
(21:07):
And Will is still.
You know, Will is still doinghis thing, so it'll be ill for
them to cross their universes.
I think that'll be a greatthing.
I think that will sell crazytickets.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Well, I'd love to see it, definitely.
You know, Ladies and gentlemen,thank you, Ibrahim Khalif.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Yeah, no problem, man , thank you.
Thanks for having me, it's anhonor.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Anytime Now.
This wouldn't be an EddieMurphy film without there being
mixed criticism.
The audience score for thismovie was 80%.
However, the critiques werefavorable, but some harsh.
Robert Daniels, a critic fromthe New York Times, says that
Beverly Hills Cop Axl F it'sbusted.
(21:52):
He says that Eddie Murphystruggles to revive the more
bound action comedy franchise.
In conclusion of what he wassaying about the movie, he says
the worst parts involve lazyallusions to better films.
A climactic shootout in amansion attempting to blend the
gunfight from the first BeverlyHills Cop with Scarface is
(22:14):
tedious and unremarkable.
While this installment isn'tnearly as woeful as Beverly
Hills Cop 3, it doesn't have thecharm or energy of the first
two films either.
It's a limp, desperate actioncomedy with few memorable
moments.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Now, I've been hearing that.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
I've been hearing that this movie is a cash grab,
and I don't understand what theymean by that.
Corey Coleman from DoubleToasted said that Beverly Hills
Cop Axl F plays it safe.
These are reheated jokes thattaste good here and there, but
it was better when it was fresh.
Brian Telerico fromRogerEbertcom says that, from
(22:53):
the beginning, Beverly Hills CopAxl F is buoyant and playful in
a way that legacy sequelsusually aren't allowed to be.
Carla Hay from Culture Mix saysBeverly Hills Cop Axl F relies
heavily on nostalgia and atransparently predictable plot.
However, this lively sequelovercomes its weaknesses with
(23:18):
some funny moments, well-castnew characters and plenty of
expected action spectacles.
Now, granted, nothing aboutBeverly Hills Cop is new, fresh
or exciting.
To be honest, beverly Hills Copthe movie birthed a whole bunch
of other movies, like theWeapon, rush Hour, bad Boys, you
(23:40):
name it.
It's influenced every singleone of those movies.
The problem is that this movieis about 40 years in the making
on for the concept that was made40 years ago, so it's going to
fall into the same tropes ofwhat a quote-unquote action
(24:00):
comedy is now.
This movie is not reinventingthe wheel.
It can't, because it startedthe wheel.
So if you're looking for thismovie to reinvent something or
have some kind of highexpectation is not.
That's not why you're here towatch this movie.
You're here to have fun, and ifyou watch this movie and have
(24:23):
fun with it, you will like it.
Now I've heard people.
People have texted me and saidthat they like this more than
they like beverly hills cop 2.
Now, that's a higher bar thanbeverly hills cop 3, but they
they're telling me that afterbeverly hills cop, they like
this movie.
I feel a lot of people came inthis with high expectations and
(24:46):
you can't Not with a movie thathasn't had a sequel in 30 years
Understand that we're seeing arebirth of Eddie Murphy.
He's not going to be the sameperson he used to be, but it is
great to see him and I'm herefor it.
If you haven't by now, pleaselike, share and subscribe.
Tell Nettie Murphy fans andtell Nettie Murphy fans that you
love this podcast and, with allhearts and minds clear, let's
(25:11):
end this show.
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