1987 Beverly Hills Cop II

The sequel had to happen. Beverly Hills Cop was one of the biggest movies of 1984 and cemented Eddie Murphy as a Hollywood A-Lister. His subsequent film however, The Golden Child, toned down his act to make it more suitable for a wider audience and the audiences stayed away. So it was only right to get things back on track with a sequel to his most popular movie.

Here we see Axel Foley return to Beverly Hills and reunite with his former partners, Judge Reinhold and John Ashton, to solve the crime of The Alphabet Murders when his former chief in Beverly Hills is shot. Axel disregards all rules, as usual, to head out to avenge his former ally.

The plot is silly as usual, but the movie is great fun. The cast enjoying the Californian sun. Tony Scott was brought on board to direct, in the absence of Martin Brest, and he brings his usual commercial style to the lensing of the picture, giving LA a otherworldly feel akin to Blade Runner. Whether this fits in with the comedy of the movie is up for debate. Personally, his style better suits stories with a little more weight and less reliance on jokes.

The sequel replaced a planned television series because Murphy did not want to do tv. It was also due to be set in Europe, but Eddie Murphy did not want to do that. It would have been a little pointless given the title to send him anywhere else. It is testament to Murphy's star status that he got what he wanted, and of the $27m budget he was reportedly paid $8m.

The inevitable soundtrack album stayed in the top forty charts in the US for about 26 weeks, and proved a hit. Although, like most sequels, it was less than the original. The same with the box office gross. BHC II managed a very good $299m, which is no small change but, markedly less than the original movie.

The movie is stylish and reworks the fun from the original. It also has Paul Reiser doing his usual turn as a smarmy slippery customer who you never know you can trust. He is very good in this.