Disc Reviews

Beverly Hills Cop Blu-ray Review

BEVERLYHILLSCOP_1DISCS_BD_RETAIL_2DDon Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer struck gold with this original action comedy back in the mid 1980’s. Once a Sylvester Stallone vehicle, the film that secured Eddie Murphy’s name in fame is still to this day a great tent pole for action-comedies.

Murphy plays the now well known Axel Foley, a foul mouthed but streetwise Detroit cop who takes a leave of absence from work to investigate the murder of a close friend in Beverly Hills. Not wasting any time getting into trouble with bad guys and the local law enforcement, Foley has to rely on his street smarts to talk around situations as he gets closer to the culprits.

The Beverly Hills police are soon onto him as commanding officer Boggermill (Ronny Cox) has his officers Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and Taggart (John Ashton) follow Foley, and further comedy ensues. Reinhold and Ashton get plenty of time to shine with their rapport on screen as the two follow Foley around to make sure he stays out of trouble. In this day and age it seems ridiculous that a police force has the man power or time for two higher ranking officers to be chasing after out-of-towners (And there is even another duo that are charged with the same detail when Rosewood and Taggart mess up), but it is all in the name of fun – and you get what is the beginning of a fun relationship between the three that carries over to the sequel.

Word must also go out to Ronny Cox for playing what could have been a two dimensional shouting role, and making his much more sympathetic to the audience merely by making sure to throw in the right look here and there in the right scenes.

Steven Berkoff puts in one of his more iconic Hollywood bad guy roles which he did so many of at the time, and is supported by Jonathan Banks (known these days as Mike form Breaking bad).

Murphy’s buck the rules swagger, and wise cracking schtick never becomes tiresome. There is also some elaborate action; well thought out supporting roles, and bad guys you love to hate. The energetic score and buzzing soundtrack picks are all in retrospect almost flawless choices.  Beverly Hills Cop is pretty much a film you become very familiar with because of all of these accents throughout the film; whether it is lines of dialogue or a cracking tune over a montage of Axel Foley riding into Beverly Hills for the first time.

The film has been given the technical upgrade for the Blu-ray release and looks better than it ever has.  This isn’t the gold star spit and polish every film fan dreams for every film released, but it’s upgrade is certainly a notch above simply plying the DVD copy to a Blu-ray disc.

On the extras side of things this is carried over from the DVD special editions but it is a decent package. Martin Brest provides a commentary. There are various behind the scenes featurettes. One on a general making of the film which includes plenty of input from various cast and crew members.

A look at the casting focuses mainly on the casting agent and her choices at the time. It extends on what is already shown in the making of. There is also a featurette on the music which not only puts emphasis on the Harold Faltermeyer score and its use within the film, but also the choices of songs on the soundtrack and their importance. There is also a Location map interactive guide and a trailer.

Most people will know of the film by now, but for those that have yet to see it – this is still one of the best and key examples of action-comedy cinema. Murphy is at the top of his game, and word of him potentially returning to the role might be just what he needs now.

Steven Hurst

Beverly Hills Cop BD

Available on DVD and Blu-Ray™

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