Beverly Hills Cop
Before Beverly Hills Cop, a majority of cop movies were gritty and violent. Thanks to Beverly Hills Cop, we wouldn’t have the cop action-comedies that we know and love today. All of the stereotypes that you’ve seen in parodies are started with this movie. Stereotypes like the hardass captain, the “insubordinate” maverick lead character, and more. It’s a huge reason why tons of people love this movie.
Unfortunately, the plot isn’t as engrossing as it should be. It’s a very cut-and-dry kind of storyline. The movie tries to make it personal with the death of Axel’s friend but it doesn’t hit. At the same time, there are also very little surprises in the movie as well. There aren’t any crooked cop twists or surprises.
Also, the antagonist is your standard 80s rich drug dealer stereotype. He’s cold-blooded and European. He doesn’t have much motivation other than money and greed. It’s not revolutionary but for the movie, it works.
Regardless, the movie isn’t about the plot. It’s about the characters. Eddie Murphy carries the entire movie by himself. A lot of the charm of the movie is seeing Eddie Murphy work his magic as a master improvisationist. His charm and sarcastic comedic style bring life into the movie. But he does it within limitations though. Murphy does a fine job fitting in his usual style of comedy with the tone of his character.
Even though Murphy carries the movie, he does have some help in keeping the movie light. That’s because the movie is full of fun and memorable characters like Rosewood, Taggart, and Serge. Their relationship and chemistry, albeit a short one, is still fun to watch.
Overall, Beverly Hills Cop is a fun action-comedy that showcases the comedic genius of Eddie Murphy. If it weren’t for the success of the movie then we wouldn’t have movies like Lethal Weapon or Rush Hour.
Movie Rating: 4/5 atoms
Beverly Hills Cop II
Beverly Hills Cop II is darker and more-action packed compared to the original film. However, the movie follows a similar formula to the original. The biggest difference is that the movie brings along Rosewood and Taggart this time around. The movie doesn’t fall entirely on Eddie Murphy’s shoulders anymore.
However, it doesn’t quite re-capture the charm of the original film. Still enjoyable but it’s missing that heart. At the same time, it’s tonally confused as well. Tony Scott is a fantastic director, but it seems as if comedy is not his forté. On the other hand, the action sequences are better this time around. The action has a lot more explosions and gunfire, much like the 80s action movies of the time. Remember, this is a Simpson/Bruckheimer movie after all.
Along with the improved action, the story takes much more precedence this time around too. The mystery behind the “Alphabet Crimes” is interesting enough to keep you invested in the film. Unfortunately, the villains in the movie are one-dimensional once again. Because the film was made in the 80s, the villains are motivated by money and greed. Thankfully, the intricacies of their robbery scheme are what keep things interesting.
Much like the original, Eddie Murphy keeps things very light-hearted. This time around, Murphy brings more of his loud-mouth persona to the movie. At the same time, the inclusion of Rosewood and Taggart keep things light with their Laurel and Hardy style comedy. Not to mention, the movie’s running joke of meek Rosewood being some sort of closet “Dirty Harry” badass also is funny too.
Overall, Beverly Hills Cop II brings a ton of action and explosions to the sequel. It’s just unfortunate that the movie doesn’t recapture the charm of the last movie. If it weren’t for Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, and John Ashton the film would ultimately be a generic 80s action movie.
Movie Rating: 3.5/5 atoms
Beverly Hills Cop III
This time around Beverly Hills Cop III is more of a personal journey for Axel Foley—much more than Beverly Hills Cop was. However, because of John Landis’ style of directing, this movie is also the funniest film of the franchise as well. Unfortunately, all of this doesn’t add up to a good movie.
The movie is vastly different than the previous two films because it’s just ridiculous all around. The theme park setting, Serge’s Annihilator gun, and Rosewood’s running joke of his job title become a little too farcical for the franchise. Yet it completely fits the directorial style of John Landis.
It starts to become the polar opposite of Tony Scott’s movie because it lacks all of the action in the last movie. In other words, Beverly Hills Cop II forces its comedy into the movie while Beverly Hills Cop III forces its action into the movie. You start to miss the balance of action and comedy from Martin Brest’s original movie.
Once again, the villains are one-dimensional and motivated by money and green. The biggest difference is that the villains are dangerous and ruthless this time around. Unfortunately, their henchmen shoot guns just like Stormtroopers. All of them have heavy weaponry but they never seem to hit our heroes despite them having little to no cover. Whether that’s intentional or not is up for debate. After all, this movie is more of a comedy than it is an action movie.
Unfortunately, the farcical style of the movie doesn’t quite mesh well with the overall comedic style of Eddie Murphy and the tone of the movie. That’s why Axel and Rosewood are more caricatures of their former selves than actual characters.
Overall, Beverly Hills Cop III is a shell of its former self. Once again, the franchise doesn’t seem to find the right balance of action and comedy. This time around the movie goes way toward the comedic side which makes the movie more of a slapstick than an action-comedy.
Movie Rating: 2/5 atoms
Video
Beverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop hits Blu-ray with a 1080p MPEG-AVC with a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The linear contrast slightly makes the picture a tad bit flat. Then again, the picture looks so dated because of its source material. The picture is overly bright as the light areas just scream off the screen. This bright picture leaves little crush in the deep black shadow areas. When it comes to the colors, the color saturation looks normal. Nothing pops but the colors are bold nonetheless. The video’s biggest problem is the softness of the picture. At the same time, the picture also has a ton of heavy film grain. Overall, the picture is relatively poor but that’s due to the poor quality of the source footage.
Video Rating: 3/5 atoms
Beverly Hills Cop II
Beverly Hills Cop II hits Blu-ray with a 1080p MPEG-AVC with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Unsurprisingly, the picture is a big improvement over the original movie. The contrast, brightness, and color saturation stay relatively the same, but the black levels have regressed this time around. The dark shadowy areas are an obsidian black with a good amount of crush in these areas. However, the biggest improvements come from the clarity of the picture. The details are crisp and clean this time around. Also, the film grain is still noticeable but it’s not a heavy grain anymore. Overall, this is a nice improvement over the Beverly Hills Cop video transfer.
Video Rating: 4/5 atoms
Beverly Hills Cop III
Beverly Hills Cop III hits Blu-ray with a 1080p MPEG-AVC with a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. Unsurprisingly, the picture for Beverly Hills Cop III is the best out of the trilogy. It’s also the most recent one of the three as well. The picture has a perfect medium contrast with an overall bright picture and a lighter shade of black. Because of the bright picture, there’s no crush in the shadow areas at all. The color saturation is bold and natural-looking. There is a downside to the picture quality though. The super clean picture highlights some of the dodgy visual effects and compositing work. You can see it in the Wonder World Spider rescue scene. Overall, this is a fantastic video transfer.
Video Rating: 4.5/5 atoms
Audio
Beverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop hits Blu-ray with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track. Much like the picture, the audio mix is a product of its time. The mix sounds very dated and the mix is simply static since there’s not much dynamism here. Regardless, the dialogue sounds clean from the center channel. Also, the sound effects and subtle atmospherics are accurately placed across the soundstage. A lot of the mix’s activity comes from Harold Faltermeyer’s awesome music. Some music is front-loaded, but if you listen close enough you can subtly hear it in the rear surround channels. Overall, this is a pretty decent audio mix.
Audio Rating: 4/5 atoms
Beverly Hills Cop II
Beverly Hills Cop II hits Blu-ray with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track. Unlike the video quality of Beverly Hills Cop II, the audio mix slightly improves on the original movie. The mix is still a static with not much dynamic movement. Also, the sound effects are still accurately placed across the soundstage and the dialogue is still distinct. Some, like explosions, even fill up the soundstage. The atmospherics are much more distinct too. Unfortunately, the examples are limited due to the dominance of the music. Harold Faltermeyer’s music fills up the soundstage with the instruments layered across all channels as well. Overall, this is another decent audio mix.
Audio Rating: 4/5 atoms
Beverly Hills Cop III
Beverly Hills Cop III hits Blu-ray with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track. Much like the video, the audio mix for the third movie is awesome as well. The mix is still static and the sound effects are still accurate but the atmospherics are distinct and full sounding. The fun use of the atmospheric effects adds to the overall immersion of the mix. The music also fills up the soundstage with its awesome soundtrack and score. Not to mention, the dialogue is distinct as well. Overall, this is a fantastic audio mix.
Audio Rating: 4.5/5 atoms
Special Features
Beverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop has the following special features on the Blu-ray disc:
- Commentary by Director Martin Brest
- Deleted Scenes
- You Might Be On the Right Track
- Axel Gets Ready for Beverly Hills
- Behind the Scenes: 1984 Interviews
- Axel’s Wild Ride
- Detroit Cops vs. Beverly Hills Cops
- Eddie’s Impromptu Lines
- Taggart and Rosewood
- Beverly Hills Cop – The Phenomenon Begins
- A Glimpse Inside the Casting Process
- The Music of Beverly Hills Cop
- Location Map
- Beverly Hills Police Station
- Victor Maitland’s Mansion
- The Biltmore
- Warehouse
- Art Gallery
- Harrow Club
- Strip Club
- Theatrical Trailer
- BHC Mixtape ’84
- The Heat is On
- Neutron Dance
- New Attitude
- Do You Really
- Stir It Up
- Nasty Girl
Although it’s been several years since he’s directed Beverly Hills Cop, director Martin Brest still has some great stories about the making of the film. He also recounts some of the more interesting technical filmmaking and editing details about the film as well. Lastly, Brest is honest in the way he points out some of the shortcomings of the film—such as all of the expositional scenes in the film. Unfortunately, the deleted scenes and behind the scenes interviews are all decent, at best. With as much exposition as there is in the film, the deleted scenes are nothing but extra fat that needed to be trimmed.
At the same time, the 1984 interviews provide little insight into the film itself. If you’re looking for an in-depth behind the scenes informative featurette about the film then it’s best if you listen to the audio commentary or watch the rest of the featurettes instead. “The Phenomenon Begins” is a very in-depth featurette about the full history of Beverly Hills Cop. Even though the featurette is dated, the amount of information you’ll learn from the featurette makes up for it. “Casting Process” is a nice complementary featurette to the in-depth “Phenomenon” featurette. As you can imagine, “Music” details the amazing soundtrack of the film. You know of Harold Faltermeyer’s iconic “Axel F” but the featurette has the filmmakers also talk about the various usage of songs in the film.
The location map may seem like a skippable bonus feature, but it is informative. Production designer Angelo P. Graham talks a little about the various locations in the film. At the same time, you can see on the map where the locations are with each other. Unfortunately, the last two features on the list can be skipped. The theatrical trailer is simply just that and the “BHC Mixtape” is just a feature that jumps to various scenes in the film which play the selected song.
Special Features Rating: 3.5/5 atoms
Beverly Hills Cop II
Beverly Hills Cop II doesn’t have special features on the Blu-ray disc.
Special Features Rating: n/a
Beverly Hills Cop III
Beverly Hills Cop III doesn’t have special features on the Blu-ray disc.
Special Features Rating: n/a
Overall, Beverly Hills Cop: 3 Movie Collection is a nice collection of films that made Eddie Murphy a movie superstar. It’s just a shame that the picture quality and audio mix aren’t all the best. Unfortunately, that’s just the way it is when it comes to movies made in the mid-80s. It’s also a shame that Beverly Hills Cop II and III don’t have any bonus features in their releases. Regardless, the features in the first film are quite informative thanks to the audio commentary and various featurettes.
Overall Rating: 4/5 atoms
This Blu-ray was reviewed using a retail/advance copy/unit provided by Paramount Home Entertainment.
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