Beverly Hills Cop III

Directed by John Landis, Beverly Hills Cop III follows Eddie Murphy’s Axel Foley as he arrives in California hoping to find and arrest a crew of menacing killers and counterfeiters (led by Timothy Carhart’s villainous Ellis DeWald). Filmmaker Landis, armed with a script by Steven E. de Souza, does an admittedly terrific job of initially luring the viewer into the proceedings, as Beverly Hills Cop III kicks off with a funny and action-packed opening stretch detailing Foley’s initial confrontation with the aforementioned killers and counterfeiters – with the movie, beyond that point, progressing into an entertaining (albeit rather hit-and-miss) midsection that benefits from the charming, engaging efforts of Murphy and his various costars (including Judge Reinhold, Hector Elizondo, and Theresa Randle). (Carhart’s deliciously evil, mustache-twirling turn as the movie’s less-than-subtle villain remains a continuing highlight, to be sure.) It’s clear, as well, that the picture’s overall success is due in no small part to its ongoing emphasis on scenes and sequences of a thoroughly agreeable nature, including a showstopping interlude that boasts the welcome and all-too-short-lived return of Bronson Pinchot’s Serge, and although the mayhem-heavy climax does feel a little excessive, Beverly Hills Cop III does, for the most part, come off as a perpetually watchable sequel that never quite reaches the highs achieved by the obviously superior first film.

**1/2 out of ****