“Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” Reviews Are In — World of Reel

Last week, I wrote …

I’ve seen Eddie Murphy’s return as Axel Foley in Netflix’s “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,” and, since I’m under embargo, I’ll just say that it’s one of the better Netflix-produced action movies. Take that tea for whatever it’s worth.

The review embargo on ‘Beverly Hills Cop 4’ has lifted, and it’s also now available to stream on Netflix. So, what’s the verdict? With 68 reviews counted, the film has racked up a 69% on Rotten Tomatoes. That sounds about right.

Just because ‘Beverly Hills Cop 4’ is one of the better Netflix original action flicks does not mean it’s a great movie, hell, that doesn’t even mean it’s a “good” movie. It’s definitely watchable in the sense that you didn’t buy a movie ticket for it, and you are never really bored by it, and it’s definitely better than the two previous sequels.

It’s frustrating how Netflix originals, the big-budget action extravaganzas, keep being produced with mediocre scripts behind them. What gives? Most of the reviews call ‘Beverly Hills Cop 4’ “entertaining enough” and that seems to be okay for the token Netflix viewer. But how about making a great movie? Does the streamer even care about quality?

With that said, “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” is surely better than recent action-packed Netflix atrocities: “Trigger Warning,” “Atlas,” “Damsel,” “Rebel Moon,” “Lift,” “Heart of Stone,” “The Mother,” “Red Notice,”

I call this progress.

And yet, we deserved better than a by-the-books sequel that banks on nostalgia and one-liners to carry the plot forward. For all of the diversions ‘Beverly Hills Cop 4’ might deliver, it’s rather astonishing how lazy it also feels.

Netflix spent $150M to produce this latest ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ movie, with that kind of money you’d expect a decent filmmaker to be hired, let alone a competent screenwriter. Instead, they hired Mark Molloy, in his feature directing debut, mostly known for commercials and the script was written by the man who gave us “Gangster Squad,” and two other unknowns scribes.