Today, in sentences I thought I’d never type: Netflix‘s Beverly Hills Cop 4, a late sequel that’d make like $7 if they dropped it in cinemas, doesn’t look bad.
The first look at the movie was finally released today by Netflix, and while it’s a short teaser trailer, it already shows quite a lot of the tone and overall energy we should expect from Eddie Murphy’s return to the role of Detective Axel Foley. Against all expectations, he looks lively and the best he’s been in a very very long time, regardless of how bad or good the rest of the movie turns out to be. You can watch the preview here.
Murphy is joined by Judge Reinhold, Kevin Bacon, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bronson Pinchot, Paul Reiser, John Ashton, Patricia Belcher, and Taylour Paige, among others. The movie is directed by Mark Molloy (Apple at Work: The Underdogs) and written by Will Beall (Aquaman), Kevin Etten (Son of Zorn), and Tom Gormican (The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent).
The official synopsis reads as follows: “Detective Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) is back on the beat in Beverly Hills. After his daughter’s life is threatened, she (Taylour Paige) and Foley team up with a new partner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and old pals Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and John Taggart (John Ashton) to turn up the heat and uncover a conspiracy.” You know, the usual legacy sequel stuff, though Murphy remains the star of the show. Still, one has to wonder how wide the appeal of another Beverly Hills Cop sequel will be in 2024.
As mentioned before, this would probably be a no-go for a theatrical release, but Netflix excels at making its subscribers devour whatever is featured on the platform’s flashy homepage, so this could end up being watched by more people than Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny for all we know.
