If there is a genre of film that can easily get repetitive and old really quickly, it’s the cop film genre. The worst thing a film can be is predictable, come off as lazy and lacking effort, and be two steps behind the audience that’s viewing it, and a cop film was usually the type of film that could have fallen into this trap the most. Cop films have been popular for decades and have done a good job being a mix between a typical gun-wielding action-oriented film, as well as introducing a more human approach to those in blue. Being hand-picked with quotable clichés so easy to remember and notice that they’ve even been placed in kid’s movies, this means that these types of movies really have to up their game when they want to make a film of its type, which examples the various parody films and icons in famous action heroes and movies like Hot Fuzz, or where it’s given a completely unique or realistic atmosphere to make it stand out like Se7en. Arguably one of the most famous cop films is also one that slightly suffers from this problem, the 1984 action comedy film, Beverly Hills Cop. In the streets of Detroit, street-smart cop Axel Foley (played by Eddie Murphy) finds himself travelling to Beverly Hills after his best friend is murdered by a hit sent by someone in the area. Never being a cop to follow the rules, he is met with hesitation from the local police force and with anger at the suspected criminal, Victor Maitland (played by Steven Berkoff). With the help of fellow police officers, John Taggart, and Billy Rosewood (played by John Ashton and Judge Reinhold) and friend Jenny Summers (played by Lisa Eilbacher), Axel will get to the bottom of this case, no matter what it takes. Usually the easiest to make a familiar element feel different while still keeping true to its original motives and direction, is by making it a comedy, that was the direction that Beverly Hills Cop took. The film did very well critically, got itself nominated for a Golden Globe and an Academy Award, and turned itself into a franchise with three films and an un-aired CBS TV show with Brandon T. Jackson as Foley’s son. The film’s success came from its streaks of enjoyability and flair to a formula that was already pretty stale even back then. With a likeable main cast and an enjoyable 80s atmosphere, it provides some entertaining for a while.

The concept of a cop film can be taken in several different sub-genres; with classics like In the Heat of the Night or The Usual Suspect taking a more realistic approach and tackling realistic problems, the parody route like Hot Fuzz and Police Academy which brings a fluffier side to the work of a police officer while still understanding the rules and procedures, and then there’s the most famous, the buddy cop film, which relies on the two actors having charisma with each other to make them work and is usually where all these famous clichés come from. Beverly Hills Cop has an incredibly formulaic and predictable narrative; the characters are archetypes that are way too familiar, the set-up is pretty standard fair for a cop film, the beats the story takes are fairly close to what usually happens in these types of films, and that leads to the opening act of the film feeling pretty slow and dull. The clichés are a bit too evident; the risk-taking cop, the angry commissioner, the obvious bad guy, the main character’s problem with rules and authority, it can be a little too heavy and the plot is pretty paper-thin so there’s not much to grab onto yet. Thankfully, the film starts to pick up around the halfway mark; while the plot or characters don’t get any more complicated and the conflict and resolution is surprisingly clean-cut, the pace, timing and energy of the second half of the film feels a lot more entertaining, consistent and all around better to watch. The narrative is still pretty shallow, but the way the last two act is handled moves away from the familiar clichés and just focuses on being a goofy movie.

The characters are still very similar tropes from this kind of film, and a few do not ever move past that point. Examples like the lady friend played by Lisa Eilbacher and especially the villain played by Steven Berkoff are given so little time and are clearly just put in because they exist in cop films, it can pretty distracting when they enter the film. Lisa Eilbacher is a fine enough actor, but her character proves to be useless for the whole film, and the bad guy is every typical 80s businessman cover bad guy made in any of these movies, there is nothing memorable or funny about him. With that said, the rest of the characters are not amazing, but they are given more time for the audience to get to know them and become rather likeable. The role of Axel Foley was originally supposed to be played straight with acting choices like Al Pacino, Sylvester Stallone, Mickey Rourke, Richard Pryor, and James Caan. But after the choice was made to make it a comedy film, the role was given to Eddie Murphy. The character of Axel Foley has enough charm and legitimate ability of playing people that makes him a fun enough focus, though some of his dialogue can feel a bit ad-libbed at times, which leads to a lot of repeated phrases. Anytime he provides a different voice or energy, it doesn’t always feel authentic but there is enough passion within the words, that it gets a pass. The two side cops are pretty likeable and provide some of the best moments in the film.

The environment of Beverly Hills has a much brighter and more organic feel to it as opposed to the streets of Detroit or other famous cop movie areas, so this choice of location leads to some more nice-looking places that are not seeped in brown and black. The writing for the film is not especially strong in either the dramatic or the comedic aspects, most likely due to the rewrites that had to be done several times when the tone and main actors were constantly changing. This leaves the dramatic moments feeling generic and pretty shallow, and this leaves the comedic moments relying more on the actor’s delivery and talent with improvising as opposed to anything in the script. Most of the scenes, especially with Eddie Murphy, feel like they were made up on the spot because it connects in with his character-creating crazed style of comedy, which works for better or worse in this film. The soundtrack for the film is filled with a lot of famous 80s music that is pretty catchy and adds a nice flair to the film, but strangely enough feels forced in as opposed to natural. The random placements for a majority of the songs do not feel necessary and instead just there because its an 80s movie and its needs music. Even some of the scenes featuring the music feel dragged out because they want to utilize the full track. The tone of the film seems to flip flop a lot as the beginning featured a lot of swearing and even a fully shown death scene, yet once the second half rolls in, the violence and coarse language seems to simmer down a lot, almost like the separate parts were elements of separate tones.

Overall, Beverly Hills Cop is known as a staple of the Cop movie genre, and that is a pretty accurate account of the film, featuring both its pros and cons. Its cons are pretty evident with its surprisingly shallow narrative and characters, miss matched tone and writing, and way too many familiar clichés. With that said though, once the movie settles in around the halfway mark, it does feature some nice character moments, some entertaining actors and enough of an overall fun element that doesn’t make it hard to sit through anymore. Its not a perfect mixture of either the harsh realistic side or the goofy satirical side of a cop movie, but rather a blend of a lot of their pieces together in a movie that isn’t great, but provides enough enjoyable moments to make it at least a watch. Mainly for cop movie lovers, but even if not, there won’t be too much bad time wasted watching this little flick.