'Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F' review: Energized Eddie Murphy stars in Netflix sequel lacking original's edge

Eddie Murphy was just 19 when he was arguably the most important factor in saving “Saturday Night Live” from irrelevance, and he was only in his early 20s when he became a gigantic movie star thanks to his electric work in “48 Hrs.” (1982), “Trading Places” (1983) and “Beverly Hills Cop” (1984), the latter of which was a near-perfect action comedy for its time.

After the serviceable if uninspired “Beverly Hills Cop II” in 1987 and the dreadful “Beverly Hills Cop III” (1994), the 63-year-old Murphy (who looks great) returns to the Axel Foley character for the first time in 30 years with the Netflix film “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,” which restores a modicum of the original humor and spirit of the original thanks in large part to Murphy’s indomitable charisma. But ultimately it leaves us underwhelmed, due to a meandering and unfocused script that embraces far too many clichés and carries little of the genuine sense of risk and menace that lurked beneath the comedy of the first film.

Australian director Mark Molloy makes the leap from TV commercials to his feature film debut with “Axel F,” and he leans heavily into the “Beverly Hills Cop” legacy with an opening, Detroit-set heist sequence that echoes the original film (right down to the use of Glenn Frey’s “The Heat is On”), with Axel (who still loves to wear Detroit Lions merch) breaking up a rather ill-conceived robbery of the Detroit Red Wings’ locker room during a game.

With Axel commandeering a snowplow and chasing the bad guys through the streets of Detroit, the callback needle drops continue in rapid succession, including Harold Faltermeyer’s “Axel F” theme and Bob Seger’s “Shakedown” from “Beverly Hills Cop II,” and we’re also going to hear “Neutron Dance” by the Pointer Sisters within the first half-hour of film. Oh, and we get the requisite scene where Axel returns to the station after the chaotic undercover operation and is greeted by sarcastic applause from his colleagues (“Classic Foley!” says one) before he’s read the riot act by his supervisor, the now Deputy Chief Jeffrey Friedman, with Paul Reiser reprising his character from the first two films.

OK, fair enough, we get it. This is going to be an homage to the original “Beverly Hills Cop.” That’s all well and good, but the storyline feels more like a rehash of plot elements from the first two films than something fresh. (As much as we welcome the return of franchise regulars John Ashton as John Taggart and Judge Reinhold as Billy Rosewood, and even Bronson Pinchot’s language-mangling Serge, much of it feels forced and strained. I mean, poor Taggart must have, what, 50 years on the force now?)

Axel returns to Beverly Hills (cue the scene of him cruising the streets in a beater, amused by all the glitz and silliness) after Billy calls him to say Axel’s estranged daughter Jane (Taylour Paige), a defense attorney representing an accused cop killer, is in danger. (The estranged daughter bit echoes John McClane and Lucy Gennero-McClane in “Live Free or Die Hard.”)

As Axel investigates the obligatory Case That Goes Much Deeper Than Anyone Could Have Imagined, “Axel F” makes disappointing use of a number of talented actors wasted in underwritten roles. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the earnest Detective Bobby Abbott, who was once involved with Jane; Luis Guzmán is a preening crime boss, and Kevin Bacon is the slick and stylish and sneering Capt. Cade Grant, and for some reason the script telegraphs who Grant is and what he’s up to from the get-go, removing virtually any semblance of mystery and surprise from the storyline.

Even though Jane wants nothing to do with her father, who has been missing from her life all these years (the reason for Axel’s split from Jane’s unseen mother, and the estrangement from Jane, makes little sense), we know they’re going to have to team up to bring down the crime ring threatening both of their lives, and we know cars will be crashing and sirens will be roaring and bullets will be flying on multiple occasions, and we know there will be breaks for a little family therapy, e.g., it’s interesting how Jane has devoted her career to defending the very criminals her father has spent his life trying to put away.

“Axel F” is the very definition of passable, comfort-viewing, nostalgia-tinged entertainment. It’s a good-looking film, and it’s wonderful to see Eddie Murphy returning to one of his signature roles and pumping it back to life after he sleep-walked through “Cop III.” It’s just a shame they got the band together after three decades, only to have them perform by-the-book renditions of the same old songs.