The latest in the Eddie Murphy tour of his oldest hits is Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024).  Why was it not titled Beverly Hills Cop IV?  I have no idea.  At least with the sequel to Coming to America (1988), they slipped in an actual number with Coming 2 America (2021).  It is not a big deal, but I notice when a detail is seemingly out of place with something like Beverly Hills: Axel F.  My best guess is that they were trying to play to the iconic track that has been a franchise mainstay, “Axel F.”  At the same time, I wonder how many out there realize the famous tune is named after the main character?  As a Catholic reviewer, I care more about a father trying to help his daughter, but only as Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) can do.

What is Axel doing at the beginning of Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F?  He is in his native Detroit, watching a Red Wings’ game with Detective Mike Woody (Kyle S. Moore).  Detective Woody idolizes the veteran cop Axel, but to Axel, this is not a social occasion.  Because Axel is, as usual, not in the good graces of his boss, Deputy Chief Jeffrey Friedman (Paul Reiser), Axel has brought Detective Woody to the sporting event to prevent a crime he has been told to stop looking into as a law enforcement officer.  Detective Woody’s presence gives Axel the excuse to continue the work and to go after the bad guys while blaming the junior officer for any trouble.  There is, predictably, lots of it, with a destructive chase through downtown Detroit that results in a great deal of destruction to private property.  While Axel is feted at headquarters, Deputy Chief Friedman had to take the blame for his long-time friend’s antics and is forced to resign.  In the ensuing argument over the decision, Deputy Chief Friedman suggests that instead of Axel making a fuss at the precinct, he should call his estranged daughter, Jane Saunders (Taylour Paige).  You know how these movies are called “Beverly Hills Cop.” Not only does Jane no longer use her father’s name, but she also resides in the title locale, unlike Axel.  She does keep the family tradition of involved in legal matters, working as a defense lawyer.  Her client is Sam Enriquez (Damian Diaz), a young man accused of killing a police officer.  The story he gives to corroborate his innocence appears unlikely, but Jane believes in him.  Yet, his plea of not guilty gets a boost when, after the initial hearing, she is intimidated by a group of masked men that threaten her by dangling her in her car off the side of a parking garage, trying to convince her to not take the case.  In the emergency services scrum, she is approached by Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold), who had partnered with her father in previous jaunts to California.  Billy had been the one to bring Sam to Jane as a client, but with this attack, he is now regretting this move.  Billy is apprehensive because he has evidence that shows not only Sam’s innocence, but that there are corrupt cops among the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).  Though Jane tells Billy not to call her father, he phones Axel anyway just before being kidnapped by those same mysterious forces.  Axel immediately flies to Los Angeles and makes his way to Beverly Hills.  He goes to the hotel room where Billy had been continuing his research on his own, having been estranged from the force for his theories.  Axel arrives as thugs are ransacking the premises, looking for a flash drive containing the footage that would exonerate Sam.  Doing his typical schtick gets the bad guys riled up, and another destructive chase ensues that ends with him getting arrested by the Beverly Hills department.  The cop that interrogates him is Detective Bobby Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who has also had a history with Jane.  While Axel is happy to be reunited with Jane, he is also focused on wanting to talk to Chief John Taggart (John Ashton), another of Axel’s old friends from the local constabulary.  Chief Taggart is more annoyed with Axel, the former seeing the latter as more of a nuisance.  During their tête-à-tête, Axel is introduced to Captain Cade Grant (Kevin Bacon), who is involved in internal affairs.  Now you have all the players, and from here it is a matter of Axel and Jane finding a way to mend their differences and figure out how to prove her client’s innocence.  This is the initial goal, anyway.  The further they go, the more it becomes clear that Captain Grant is the one behind the nefarious things that are happening.  As for reconciliation, Jane remains obstinate, especially when Axel appears unwilling to apologize for anything that has transpired between them.  In the middle of another heated discussion, thugs hired by Captain Grant attempt to murder Axel and Jane, but they are saved by Detective Abbott.  Despite them being victims, Chief Taggart suspends Detective Abbott and once more reprimands Axel.  Further, when Jane thinks that her dad’s presence has run its course and he says otherwise, she accuses him of wanting to stick around simply for the action.  She is not wrong as Axel and Detective Abbott go to contact one of the latter’s informants, Sam’s Uncle Chalino Valdemoro (Luis Guzmán), in order to get more information on Captain Grant’s activities.  Their nemesis anticipates this action, and plants drugs in Detective Abbott’s car, leading to his and Axel’s arrest.  This only slows Axel and Detective Abbott, breaking out of the headquarters and commandeering a helicopter to escape.  From there, they make their way to the docks where more drugs are being brought in by Captain Grant’s illicit operation.  Hijacking the next shipment and saving Billy in the process, they lead the police to the mansion where the substances are collected for distribution around the city.  Anyway, bang-bang, boom-boom, the bad guys meet their doom.  And to seal the growing accord between father and daughter, Axel takes a bullet for Jane.

That Axel is willing to lay down his life for Jane at the end of Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is the culmination of his constant reminders to her that he still cares.  It is a familiar refrain when this Catholic analyses Hollywood movies regarding how they often feature non-traditional families.  There is a stereotype with Christians and Catholics that unless a family consists of a father, mother, and children, then we shun such people.  My response is invariably that those attitudes are un-Christian.  We are so broken as people, but God never gives up on us.  Because of His infinite kindness, we should extend the same to each other.  Unfortunately, we do not do this consistently.  The film underscores this truth, though the specific factors behind the rift between Axel and Jane are somewhat nebulous.  It has something to do with him being too focused on being a cop.  It is a problem noted not only by Jane, but also Deputy Chief Friedman.  The latter’s advice is that Axel’s work is “just a job.”  There is an interesting Catholic angle to this thought.  There is sometimes some confusion among Catholics as to the difference between a vocation and employment.  For example, priests live out their vocation while also getting paid as an employee of a diocese, as in the case of a parish priest.  It is not the same for all clergy, but there is alignment for some men within the Church in this regard.  For lay people, our vocation is our family, but what we do to pay the bills is secondary.  Our vocation is our first calling and should take precedence.  As for the film, we watch it because it is action-packed, sprinkled with Murphy’s humor.  Still, there is enough of a lesson in it to make it somewhat tolerable.

And “tolerable” is about the best I can say for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.  It is a bit tamer compared to other installments in the franchise, but as predictable as any of its other cinematic cousins.  In other words, you have seen this movie.