Director Report Card: Tony Scott (1987)

3. Beverly Hills Cop II

It was the late eighties and Jerry Bruckheimer was on a roll. His last two movies, “Beverly Hills Cop” and “Top Gun,” had become the highest grossing films of their respective years. Since the eighties was the decade were one-off blockbusters started to beget on-going franchise, a follow-up to the Eddie Murphy hit was considered. Knowing how successful “Top Gun” was, it only made sense for Bruckheimer to trust Tony Scott with the incoming series. These were all logical decisions for everyone except Eddie Murphy. One of the biggest movie stars in the world at that time, Murphy was reluctant to return. Only a dump truck full of money and more control over the script was enough to invite the stand-up-turned-superstar to reprise the role of Axel Foley.

Two years after his last adventure, smart-ass cop Axel Foley is still causing mischief for the Detroit police department. Meanwhile, in L.A., a high-profile series of daring robberies are going down, named the Alphabet Crimes due to the coded messages the crooks send the police. After circulating a clue, Captain Bogomil – Axel's friend – is shot. Though he survives, Foley still heads back to Beverly Hills to unravel this latest mystery. Soon, Deputies Rosewood and Targart are joining him as he encounters an international crime ring.

Even though it was a monstrous success, “Beverly Hills Cop” wasn't a story that really cried out for a sequel. Beyond a desire to spend more time with Axel and the gang, all the lingering plot points were wrapped up. The solution the sequel's team of writers – a team that included Larry Ferguson, Warren Skaaren, Robert D. Waches, and Murphy – cooked up was frustrating. The initial set-up, of an old friend of Foley's being injured and the cop seeking revenge, could not be more boilerplate of a sequel premise. (Not to mention reminiscent of the first movie's premise.) Perhaps realizing this, the plot grows more convoluted as it goes on, the simple antagonist robbers being embroiled with oil rigs, assassination, double-crosses, and weapons dealing. 

Then again, maybe the writers weren't ashamed of being derivative. Like so many sequels, “Beverly Hills Cop II” delights in giving the audience more of what they liked the first time. Previously, people loved it when Axel Foley would con people by pretending to be something he's not. So the sequel doubles down on that behavior. Foley scams his way into the Playboy Mansion by pretending to be a pool cleaner. He freaks out a secretary by pretending a bag he's holding contains explosives. He convinces a whole strip club Taggart is Gerald Ford, briefly steals a mansion by fooling some builders, and plays humiliating games with the Beverly Hills police chief. Granted, you can't complain too much about the repetition because Eddie Murphy is still hilarious in these moments, the scenarios playing to his strengths as a guffawing huckster.

The sequel doesn't just double-down on the first one's goofball tricks. “Beverly Hills Cop 1” had a European villain that glared in an intimidating manner while actually doing very little. The sequel has two European villains that glare and little else. Alright, that's not fair. Brigitte Nielsen, as Karla, gets several action scenes to herself and makes the most of her hugely intimidating appearance. It's Jurgen Prochnow, as Maxwell Dent, who occupies the role of an accented bad guy who doesn't do much. Granted, Prochnow is extremely good at sitting in rooms and starring intensely, plotting villainous and whispering stern orders. Yet, considering he's supposed to be a foil to the motor-mouthed Axel Foley, the series lets us down in the bad guy department again.

The sequel even attempts to emulate the original's soundtrack. Harold Faltermeyer returns to provide the score. The iconic “Axel F” theme plays roughly a dozen time, approximately every time the main character does something cool. As with the last time, the film's soundscape is filled with pop songs that followed the popular trends of the time but come off as hopelessly cheesy today. Like a stripper performing to George Michael's “I Want Your Sex,” an on-the-nose choice. It's all summed up by the big, brassy, overly synth-y “Shakedown,” Bob Seger's main theme song. That song, admittedly catchy, was bombastic enough to earn an Oscar nomination and Seger his only number one hit. 

For all the blatant similarities “Beverly Hills Cop II” has to its predecessor, there are a number of differences too. Last time, Eddie Murphy played Axel Foley as a streetwise smart-ass who could weasel his way into almost any situation but couldn't always weasel his way out. At least not without some collateral damage. In the sequel, Foley's street smarts now includes a number of ingenious tricks. He knows how to pick a lock without setting off an alarm or how to reveal fingerprints with just a tube of superglue. Suspension of disbelief is stretched a bit by these revelations, of turning Axel Foley from an exceptionally talented con artist into a genius of sorts.

Of course, the biggest difference between the first two films – and the one that has the biggest impact – is visual. Martin Brest's direction in the original was sometimes awkward or even flat. Tony Scott, meanwhile, knows how to make every damn scene look as cool as possible. The opening credits montage of Foley driving his car is probably more cinematic than anything from the first film. Scott is especially fond of bathing scenes in neon light. A visit to a shooting range – which is outfit with laser sights for some reason – or the glow outside a night club are wonderfully stylish. When people quote a center type of eighties ambiance, as in the vaporwave or synthwave styles, this is exactly the kind of thing they are talking about. 

“Beverly Hills Cop II” is also far faster paced than the original. That is owed entirely to another trademark of Scott's: His razor sharp, action packed editing. From the opening scene, “Beverly Hills Cop II” cuts-cuts-cuts to the action. The robbery of the jewelry store blazes through, every angle being exposed as we see guns fire, glass shatter, and bad guys go about their business. We see it again, in the sequence where Axel is attacked outside the strip club. We see the hero leap over a car as it's crashed into, amid bullets and glass flying everywhere. While it's easy to go over-the-top with this style, where the constant cuts make the action harder to follow, Tony Scott still had a grasp on coherence at this point in his career. “Beverly Hills Cop II” is exciting to watch.

Another true fact about Martin Brest's original, it was pretty underwhelming as an action movie. Brest, sometimes, seemed uncomfortable with action movie theatrics. Tony Scott, meanwhile, has no issue with that kind of thing. In fact, he escalates the action to almost comical levels. There's several massive car chases. During one, where the good guys are driving a cement mixer, multiple vehicles are smashed and tossed around. An especially clever bit has a row of parking meters getting in the way. Scot's camera delights in twisted chrome and flying cars, a truly captivating sight. For the finale, he even throws in a bazooka, a grenade, and two exploding trucks. The John Woo inspired finale – you can tell because of the doves – is full of shadows, filtering sunlight, dramatic lighting, and giant rotating fans. It's fun and it looks fun.

The sequel also develops Rosewood and Taggart far more. In the first movie, they were Foley's reluctant observers and often the butt of his jokes. The sequel has them, somewhat unlikely, becoming his best friends. Yet it's definitely fun to see them again. Judge Reinhold's Rosewood develops into a likably odd character, with his love of plants, his pet turtle (which leads to one of the sequel's funniest exchanges), and a previously unseen fondness for heavy arms. John Ashlon's Taggart becomes more vulnerable, a sad quality appearing behind his hard-ass appearance. This allows him, even more, to become the straight man to Foley's sarcastic antics. The scenes devoted to these three hanging out, trading catty dialogue, are honestly some of “Beverly Hills Cop II's” best moments.

Watching a film like this in 2021 presents a certain disconnect. In our modern world, we are all too aware of how abusively police officers wield their power. In a movie like this, cops can do whatever they want in pursuit of justice... “Justice” which is often based on whims and hunches. Axel and his buddies break the law, step far outside the bounds of police responsibility, destroy thousands of dollars worth of property, and manipulate their own superiors. Of course, they all get away with it too, because they catch the bad guy in the end. And by “catch,” I mean kill in cold blood. Of course, this film is set in a ridiculous fantasy world that shouldn't be confused with our own. But if you're wondering if the surviving through the hellscape that is our modern age made it harder to enjoy silly popcorn movies of a previous era... There's your answer. 

Nowadays, it's expected for a sequel to out-gross the original. If a high profile sequel fails to exceed the first one's profit margin, it's considered a failure. “Beverly Hills Cop II's” still huge 300 million dollar gross was a bit shy of the first one's. Maybe that's why part three didn't come along for another five years. Still a huge success by any traditional measure, “Beverly Hills Cop II” furthered Tony Scott's climb up the Hollywood A-list. It's also a fairly entertaining popcorn flick, beholden to many of the original's flaws but managing to improve on the source material in other ways. If nothing else, Tony Scott was unquestionably the right man for this job. If you want a film to look cool, to make its star as slick looking as possible, he's the man for the job. [Grade: B]