BEVERLY HILLS COP III (1994)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
(Originally viewed in 1994)
(Originally viewed in 1994)
"Beverly Hills Cop" is an idea that could run dry quickly, witness the hideously awful "Lethal Weapon 4" which nearly destroyed the credibility of its own series. How many times can you see Axel Foley bluff his way out of any situation in Beverly Hills? Wouldn't the entire Los Angeles area have made him into a media hero by now with his motormouth skills, not to mention his mingling with Hugh Hefner at the Playboy Mansion in "Beverly Hills Cop II"? The third time is not the charm in this tired, listless though infrequently and mildly diverting sequel. The public wasn't buying it anymore either since they did not attend. Wise move. Of course, I did attend when I saw it in a theater back in May, 1994.
Eddie Murphy is back again as Axel Foley, the smart-aleck Detroit detective who laughs louder than anyone else in the United States. This time, his Inspector Todd (Gil Hill) is killed in the opening sequence, which involves some uninspired business with the FBI and chop shops. Foley is mad and wants to find the killers so, well, he puts on his Detroit Lions jacket and is back in business in Beverly Hills. Judge Reinhold returns as Billy Rosewood as does Bronson Pinchot in a brief cameo as Serge, now selling home-equipped artillery! Taggart (John Ashton) and the police chief Bogomil (Ronny Cox) are conspicuously missing. Oh, yes, whatever happened to Paul Reiser?
Something seemed wrong from the start. It is unusual for a "Beverly Hills Cop" movie to have Axel barely bluffing, but it is true. In fact, he is actually a pretty harmless, sensitive guy who buys a ticket into an amusement park called Wonderworld rather than bluffing his way into getting it free. The amusement park concept, as written by Steven E. de Souza, is dull at best, as are the cardboard villains. It doesn't have an ounce of suspense or surprise in it. We are left with Foley horsing around with costumed characters and donning a bunny costume for laughs! Ha! Ha! And the killers are using Wonderworld as a front for counterfeiting money! Wow! A great concept indeed!
"Beverly Hills Cop III" is directed with static energy by John Landis, a director responsible for more disasters than any other director. The comedy relief is so haphazard and dryly written that, at best, it elicits only a few chuckles (opening chop shop scene cueing Supremes' "Come See About Me" and Axel's verbal exchanges with Inspector Todd come off best). The action scenes are badly edited and constructed (look at the pitiful scene where Eddie is hanging around a Ferris wheel or one of the final shootouts towards the end where the killers shoot literally on autopilot). The movie eschews comedy for action and plenty of shootouts but little else. They could have cast Wesley Snipes instead of Murphy and nobody would notice the difference. We want to see Eddie Murphy firing off rounds of humor, not ammunition.
