Beverly Hills Cop review

 Number 996 on the top 1000 films of all time is the buddy cop action drama 'Beverly Hills Cop.'

Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) is a street-smart Detroit cop whose childhood best friend is mysteriously killed. Aiming to uncover the mystery, Foley travels to Beverly Hills where he comes up against formidable art gallery owner Victor Maitland (Steven Berkoff.)

Eddie Murphy was a great comedy actor. He really carried this film and made it something more than your average buddy cop film. He easily displayed his versatility through his physical and verbal comedy. Axel Foley was a likeable and charismatic protagonist. A smart-talking cop is hardly a new trope, but Murphy kept the role nice and fresh. This was a fun and a light-hearted watch.

But Eddie Murphy wasn't the only actor in this, as the rest of the cast were also great. While in Beverly Hills, he receives help from police detective Billy (Judge Reinhold) and police sergeant John Taggart (John Ashton.) These two actors worked well together helping to provide a lot of the film's humour, but also a lot of heart. Initially, they begin as adversaries of Axel, with instructions from their superiors to keep him out of the way, but eventually they become allies. Both of them receive strict dressing-downs from their lieutenant, but this doesn't stop them from doing the right thing.

And Steven Berkoff as the villainous Victor Maitland also shone. He was very convincing as the villain. As I guess would be the standard of the buddy cop films of the time, this was definitely a bit of a boy's film. Consequently some of the female characters like Jenny (Lisa Eilbacher) - another old friend of Axel's - felt very short-changed.

Finally, we have to mention the film's brilliant soundtrack. Populated with the best of eighties music, it deservingly won the Grammy for best score. Of course, it also featured the Axel F song itself which went onto become one of the most annoyingly catchy songs of the 2000's.

This film appears very far down on the list. It was definitely good for what it was - a heartfelt, but very funny buddy cop drama with a great score, but I can understand why it was so low-placed. Beverly Hills Cop might have laid the groundwork, but I think it's been surpassed by many other films.