Decent sequel but not much more (Beverly Hills Cop 2 (DVD))

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	Beverly Hills Cop 2 (DVD)
Date:	21/07/09 (10 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Eddie Murphy, good action

Disadvantages: Very routine

Beverly Hills Cop 2 is a very routine sequel to a very good film. It succeeds and is worthwhile because it helped launch the career of Tony Scott, who graduated onto better films such as Enemy of the State, and more recently, the remake of The Taking of Pelham 123. It helped establish Eddie Murphy as a bankable commodity, even if the film never reaches heights anywhere near those of the original outing.

Foley returns to Beverly Hills, California in order to try and capture some naughty arms dealers, who are smuggling in weapons from other countries. Foley reunites with detectives Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and John Taggart (John Ashton), after Captain Bogomil (Ronny Cox) is shot (but miraculously not killed) by Karla Fry (Brigitte Nielsen), an assassin and henchwoman for Maxwell Dent (Jürgen Prochnow). So the investigation begins, and whilst the film has the requisite impressive set pieces, it's just very much a retread of the original film. It's not as funny or as gritty as the first film, but at least it does boast most of the original cast, which is more than can be said for the third film. It's a sure demotion of a sequel here, but it's tolerable and harmless, just a very evident money spinner that's a rather shrewd byproduct of the Hollywood system.

Tony Scott's typically solid direction makes this sequel watchable even if it is a fairly routine, by-the-numbers rehash of the original with more over the top villains and action sequences, and hit-and-miss humour.

Summary: A by the numbers sequel