When Beverly Hills cop Lieutenant Bogomil (Ronny Cox) is gunned down whilst investigating the Alphabet Crimes his friend Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) once again heads down from Detroit to investigate. 

Beverly Hills Cop 2 tries to improve upon every facet of the original whilst keeping the same template. Foley, as with the first film is prompted to head down to Beverly Hills when a friend is shot. Rather than staying in a plush hotel he cons his way into living in a palatial mansion in the process of renovation. His Detroit cop friend Jeffrey Friedman (Paul Reiser) gets a larger part as he pretends to be Foley in order to hide the fact he has gone AWOL from his commanding officer Inspector Todd (Gilbert R. Hall). The villain of the piece is European (Jurgen Prochnow) and has a right hand (Brigette Nielsen) to do all of his dirty work. And this time there is much more buddy comedy action alongside Sergeant Taggart (John Ashton) and Detective Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) who are also breaking the rules by investigating a case they have been warned off for being to close to. 

A lot works. The director role this time round goes to Tony Scott who gives the film a high sheen of class and moody atmosphere via his Director of Photography Jeffrey L. Kimball. Some of the shots of Beverly Hills are stunning to look at. The opening segment shows Foley using the lessons he learned in Beverly Hills to try and capture the next level of criminal that we saw in the opening movie’s cigarette sting by moving on to credit cards. Bringing Taggert, Rosewood and Foley together in a mutual breaking of the rules and giving the Beverly Hills cops a bit more of a background is a lot of fun. And the alphabet crimes themselves are shot in a way that makes them exhilarating and dangerous heists. 

But some facets of upping the ante of the same template fail. The strip club of the first film becomes a full scale Playboy party with Hugh Hefner cameo. The alphabet crimes themselves are so convoluted and complex that it barely makes any sense. The comedy is still present but does not quite live up to the freshness and excitement of Murphy’s witty fast talking from the first film. And of course as a 1980’s action movie must do it ends in another giant shoot out. This time with added explosions. 

As a younger man I always preferred this sequel to the original. Tony Scott adds a huge layer of cool to the film and it’s visually impressive. Nielsen makes a striking villain and Prochnow and Dean Stockwell add a great deal as slimy criminal masterminds. But watching the films back to back the original is a much funnier affair and does a better job at representing the fish out of water culture clash perhaps giving it the edge over this “bigger is better” sequel. 

Keep your eyes open for a cameo from comedian Chris Rock who appears as a car valet. This must have been a dream come true for Rock who essentially would go on to take Murphy’s crown as a fast talking, foul mouthed comedy stand up and actor. 

A sequel with much greater sheen that perhaps loses some of the comedy and originality that made the first film special. 

If you want to read more of my opinions on Beverly Hills Cop check these out:

• Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
• Beverly Hills Cop 3 (1994)
• Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F
• Beverly Hills Cop – Ranked