Beverly Hills Cop II

Directed by Tony Scott, Beverly Hills Cop II follows Eddie Murphy’s Axel Foley as he returns to Beverly Hills to help Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and John Taggart (John Ashton) solve the attempted murder of Ronny Cox’s Captain Bogomil. There’s ultimately little doubt that Beverly Hills Cop II fares best in its briskly-paced and thoroughly entertaining opening half hour, as filmmaker Scott, armed with Larry Ferguson and Warren Skaaren’s screenplay, initially does a nice job of replicating the action/comedy mix that defined the original picture without sacrificing his extremely specific (and stylish) sensibilities – with the compulsively watchable atmosphere heightened by Murphy’s dynamic, hilarious work and his chemistry with the movie’s various periphery figures. (It’s impossible, for example, not to get a kick out of Foley’s ongoing encounters with Gil Hill’s perpetually angry Inspector Todd.) The movie’s shift from completely satisfying to marginally passable, then, is triggered by a sluggish midsection that grows less and less interesting as time progresses, and it’s clear, certainly, that the relatively underwhelming vibe is compounded by a convoluted narrative increasingly focused on Foley and co.’s less-than-enthralling investigation into Bogomil’s attack – with the absence of high-octane action sequences ensuring that the picture fizzles out long before reaching its conclusion. The end result is as hit-and-miss a sequel as one could possibly envision, which is a shame, undoubtedly, given the massive potential afforded by the thoroughly compelling first act.

**1/2 out of ****