Plot
When Axel Foley’s boss, Captain Todd, is murdered, and the investigations lead him back to Beverly Hills – he is once again joined by Billy Rosewood – and his primary suspect is the big boss of the “Disney” like Wonder World.
But of course, no one believes this “hero of the community” is up to no good…
Direction
Directed by John Landis (who had previously directed Murphy in Coming to America and Trading Places), this film has a completely different vibe to it than the previous entries.
There are also terribly aged green screen moments that take away from the action moments which is a shame.
Cast/Characters
Returning for their third entries are Eddie Murphy and Judge Reinhold as Axel Foley and Billy Rosewood.
New additions in the “good guys” is Hector Elizondo, who plays Rosewood’s new partner Joe Flint. Reportedly he was a late replacement for Taggart, with only a quick mention of Taggart, and no mention at all of Bogomil.
The big bad is Timothy Carhart as Ellis De Wald.
Other noticeable cast include Stephen McHattie as Fulbright a federal agent after De Wald, and Theresa Randle as Janice, Axel’s love interest, Linsay Ginter as one of De Wald’s main henchmen and Gil Hill as Inspector Todd. Interestingly Hill himself was a real life police officer, and became the chief of police in Detroit. His only starring roles were that of Todd in the three films.
George Lucas has a gimmicky cameo at the Ferris Wheel sequence. Why hire Al Leong or Michael Bowen if you’re just going to kill them off in the first five minutes and give them barely anything to do?
Breakdown
There is no argument this is the poorest of the films in what was a trilogy up until the 4th film 30 years later (and 40 after the first film).
Axel feels like a completely different character, with odd additions such as an almost super action hero moment in saving the kids on the Ferris Wheel, and the inclusion of a love interest.
Even his detective skills seemed dumbed down with taking an entire film to work out what the evidence in his pocket is and lets the bad guys get the jump on him. This is not the same character from the first two films.
While this is the most “to and fro” between Axel and the bad guy, I found the villain to have the worst narrative structure.
He is seemingly a high ranking law enforcement officer… but wants to create counterfeit money – is hands on in the opening montage – but then is fine with massive amounts of gunfire/leading a car chase… it is just nonsensical. There is more plot amour for Axel in this than there is in Die Hard too!
There are more cliche moments too with the *** spoiler but its been 30 years *** Federal agent is in on the ruse and is partnered with the bad guy, even though he was trying to keep Axel away from the case.
As much as you love his character, I hated the silly gun that Serge (no it’s pronounced Serge) sells. It is yet another moment that the film feels more cartoonish that realist that the first two films did so well. Its inclusion in the drawn out 3rd act is rather dumb.
Overall
While growing up, this was the first Axel Foley film I watched, and always enjoyed it the most, but having watched how good the first two films are – this pales in comparison. This is not a bad film at all, but it is the weakest entry in the series so far. Review on #4 coming soon!
3/5
Ryan's Movie Reviews 