Trailer Drop! Detroit's Finest, Axel Foley, Is Back In 'Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F'
Trailer Drop! Detroit's Finest, Axel Foley, Is Back In 'Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F'
Eddie Murphy's dad energy is very on point
“This isn’t my first time in Beverly Hills.”
“This is your father.”
I find it hilarious that this is the way my father–the only person who leaves me voicemails other than my mother—starts every single call, text, voice note, voicemail, AND Facetime message…even though I know exactly who he is and some instances can LITERALLY SEE HIM.
It’s also one of the first things Axel Foley says in the new trailer Netflix dropped this week for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.
It’s the fourth installment of the Beverly Hills Cop series and in the trailer, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (10 Things I Hate About You if you’re over 35, Inception if you’re under 35) who plays Detective Abbott in the film, reminds us it started in 1984….
…continued in 1987…
and 1994 was the last time Detroit’s finest cop caused all kinda mayhem and foolishness on the streets of Beverly Hills.
Now, we’re picking up in 2024 and Axel has a daughter, Jane, played by THEE FUCKIN’ TAYLOUR PAIGE (Zola, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), and when her life gets threatened, she, Axel, Abbott, and a few familiar faces from the OG films—Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and Taggart (John Ashton)—all work together to figure out just what in the fuck is going on.
We don’t know much more about the plot, but we can surely expect mad cameos, cops, and chaos in Axel’s latest chapter. It’s also really nice to see Gordon-Levitt on the screen again. I loved him in last year’s heavily slept-on Flora and Son and anytime Taylour is on the screen I’m obviously hella excited.
Here’s the thing—while Beverly Hills Cop might not be a huge part of the pop culture lexicon of millennial folks, its nostalgia will certainly ring true for those who are in Gen X. They were in their 1Pop Culture Prime—the ages when you’re not only actively choosing what pop culture you consume but are storing memories from it and creating your future nostalgia—when the films were originally on the big screen. But it’s not just the films that will bring up memories for viewers, but Murphy himself.
Eddie Murphy has a filmography that spans generations and cultures. There are folks from Gen Z who know him as Donkey in Shrek and Millenials who know him as The Nutty Professor.
Boomers will remember the start of his career on Saturday Night Live as the 2nd youngest cast member ever at age 19—after Anthony Michael Hall who was 17, followed by Robert Downey Jr. & Pete Davidson who were both 20—and of course, Raw.
I’m most familiar with Murphy culturally, Coming To America is a fav in many Black households, and because of where I was born and raised—Detroit.
Beverly Hills Cop helped put Detroit on the map when it comes to movies. Detroit is a proud city full of even prouder people, and when there is a spotlight on our city you’ll never hear the end of it. People in the city are still talking about how they were extras in Transformers and 8 Mile. If you bring up Beverly Hills Cop be ready for them to claim Axel as one of Detroit’s own.
Axel Foley is a Detroit icon, proudly repping his city no matter where he is, even through the chaos that he is constantly the cause of—this time around he gets his hand on a helicopter and a snow plow, like sir…WHATWHYHOW?!?
It’s going to be dope to see how they add to the story a whole ass 30 years later! In celebration of the trailer dropping, I have combed through it and pulled every Detroit item I saw Axel wearing (along with a fashion callback or two I noticed) because just like my dad, Axel doesn’t give a fuck if it’s 90 degrees and humid—he’s wearing his jacket and reppin’ his Lions no matter what city he’s in.
The Classic Detroit Letterman
Okay so, in the OG films, Axel loved his varsity jacket. It paired perfectly with his skintight 1980s denim and rounded aviator glasses. In Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, it’s been changed to fit the style of Axel these days, it’s giving ‘round the way Detroit dad who has been a Lions season ticket holder for a million years.
My a-DIDAS!
Younger Axel was wearing the Run-DMC fav adidas in the country style…which is sold out unless you wear a men’s 4, 5 or 7. In Axel F, he is wearing what looks to be the adidas Superstar sneaker.
Detroit Public School Kid
Everyone knows Detroit high schools like Cass, Renaissance, and King—but Mumford is a public high school in Detroit!
Want to know something even cooler? Eddie Murphy’s first season on SNL was in 1980, and the year before in 1979 was 2Gilda Radner’s last—and she went to Mumford High!
Even cooler than that—Jerry Bruckheimer (MEGA PRODUCER) went to Mumford and was a producer on Beverly Hills Cop 1, 2, and now 4!
EVEN COOLER—Jemele Hill, who is an incredible sports journalist ALSO went to Mumford and then MSU! GO GREEN!
‘Quiet Storm’ Hours
If you grew up in Detroit you remember three radio stations vividly—93.1 DRQ, V98.7, and WJLB! They gave away concert tickets and played all the music you wanted to torture your parents while they were driving on the Lodge freeway.
A Lions Fan SINCE BIRTH!
This isn’t hella clear but I bet my beret collection that it’s a Detroit Lions shirt. It’s blue and white, I can see an R, and Axel Foley is a diehard Lions fan I’m sure so… Yahtzee.
Is That Boblo?!
Boblo was an amusement park that Detroiters used to go to for literal decades. It closed in the early 90s but I have very fond memories of it. I THINK this is a Boblo shirt, BUT it also looks like another radio station…WHO CAN SAY? BUT I GET POINTS ANYWAY!
Watch the trailer for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F below! It premieres July 3. Only on Netflix.
Extras:
So, this film is coming out in a different political climate than its predecessors. So it will be interesting to see how folks will view it in the ACAB era.
A lot of folks in the queer community have some thoughts on his material in RAW, and Lester Fabian Brathwaite (who has a book coming out later this year) wrote a really dope piece about it all if you wanna take a dive into that.
The original movie is on Netflix until June 19 if you wanna catch up or get familiar with it.
My Letterboxd is your new favorite place, but here are some other movies with a Detroit connection that I love:
Technically this takes place in the suburbs of Detroit where it was also filmed and I was visiting home for some of it and drove around the city trying to find places where they were filming.
Detroit suburbs but still a fav.
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IDK if I made this term up but I’m gonna use it all the time ‘cos like—yeah.
Gilda is one of my fav OG SNL cast members.