Beverly Hills Cop 2 (1987)

 

No lie: this has always been my favourite of the 'Beverly Hills Cop'-trilogy. It isn't the best, that honour still goes to the first one. But this is the one I saw first as a child and it left a pretty strong impression. 

Also, it has a slicker vibe to it all, which makes it feel less gritty but also appeals more to me. Well, it did and still does in a way. 

The story takes place a few years after the events of the first one. Axel Foley is still a police officer in Detroit, but he is now close friends with Taggart, Rosewood and Bogomil from Beverly Hills, and they still do stuff together. Not all is well in Beverly Hills, though. There are a few highly planned and executed crimes, always accompanied by a letter of the alphabet. Bogomil seems to be on to something, as he is shot down. This reaches Axel, and he immediately goes off to Beverly Hills to try and find out who shot his friend, together with Taggart and Rosewood. They soon find out that a wealthy oil magnate named Maxwell Dent is in on this scheme, but it isn't as clear cut as I write this. 

Well, maybe it is, but there is stuff like insurance fraud involved and so on and so forth. Basically: bad guy wants lots of money, cop finds out, cop gets shot, cop friends now on the hunt for justice. 

Yes, the plot is once again straight forward, but you won't mind, for several reasons.

One reason is that the direction this time is left in the capable hands of Tony Scott. When a film is run by Tony Scott, you know it will be slick and this one is no exception. Every shot is eyecandy and it all flows with that exciting pace that this Scott brother is known for. Sure, storywise, you might find a few issues with it all, but it is constructed so well and enjoyable that in all honesty, you won't really care about certain inconsistencies or plot holes. 

Make no mistake: this is, even more than the first one, Eddie Murphy's film. He is (and rightfully so) the absolute centre point. He is also even funnier than the first one, because the plot is a little sillier this time, so he gets to freewheel a lot more. You can often tell when he was improvising, because you can see his fellow actors corpsing quite a lot. Especially John Ashton has a few moments where he is stifling his laughter, but it is understandable, because Eddie Murphy at his best (which he is here) is downright hilarious. 

The other players are also great. John Ashton is always fun, Judge Reinhold gets a little more to do this time around as they expanded on his character quite a lot and Ronny Cox, even though he spends much of his time being shot, is always a joy to watch. Who also got an upgrade, are the villains. This time, they are a lot more memorable, even though they don't get a lot of screen time. Jürgen Prochnow is one of those chiseled-face actors that just scream for an evil part, and he does it with understated gusto here. Most memorable is Brigitte Nielsen as his henchwoman Carla Frye. That is in part to her appearance, which is always memorable and very much so here, but also because she was almost built to play this kind of part. Don't give her too many Shakespearean lines, just keep her brooding and ominous and being the impressive woman she is, she can pull it off seamlessly. 

Okay, as a story, this one is thinner than the first one and it is less character driven and more focused on comedy and action, but as an entertaining buddycop film, this one is a tough act to beat. But of course, that depends on your tolerance of Eddie Murphy and silly plots that are in reality paperthin and riddled with things that don't really make sense. 

But in all honesty, if a film is as entertaining and fun as this one, it's tough to fault it. It's light entertainment at its best, the thing that the late Tony Scott did so wonderfully and, it pains me to say it, doesn't get enough credit for.