Why Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F’s Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score Is Best Since The First Movie

summary

• Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F’s Rotten Tomatoes score is the best since the original, earning 66% from critics and 80% from audiences.
• The highly anticipated fourth installment has quickly become the second most beloved film in the franchise since the original classic.
• Eddie Murphy’s return as Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F has reignited excitement for a potential Beverly Hills Cop 5.

Rotten Tomatoes scores for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is the best of the franchise since the original. Released in 1984, the original Beverly Hills Cop introduced Murphy’s iconic character Axel Foley to the world in hilarious, action-packed style. The classic original movie that can be streamed on Netflix along with the newly released Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, earned a Certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score of 82% and an audience score of 82%. Until today, the original Beverly Hills Cop remains one of the most celebrated and iconic comedies of Eddie Murphy’s career.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F dominated the streaming charts upon its July 5, 2024 debut on Netflix, earning 41 million views in just a few days. Based on its Rotten Tomatoes scores alone, the film’s much-anticipated chapter The Beverly Hills Cops the franchise is the second most celebrated film in the entire series. The instant success of Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F already viewers are wondering what is in store for a potential Beverly Hills Cop 5. Beverly Hills Cop isn’t the only classic franchise Murphey is helping modernize, as he’s poised to do star in the future pink Panther remake and the newly announced Shrek 5.

All Beverly Hills Cop Rotten Tomatoes Scores Compared (Critics & Audiences)

The original is the most famous of the original trilogy by a long shot

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F
released four decades after the original, it’s easily the best sequel to the franchise.

original Beverly Hills Cop received the most universal acclaim from critics and audiences alike of the entire franchise. Unfortunately, the quality and success of the films steadily progressed as they completed the original trilogy, dropping to a critic score of just 11% and an audience score of 35% after the original received 82% in both categories. The sequel was considered good but not great and ended up getting mixed reviews from critics and only a slightly positive audience score of 58%. Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Freleased four decades after the original, it’s easily the best sequel to the franchise.

Murphy was still a rising comedy movie star when the original Beverly Hills Cop appeared, which was only the fourth film appearance he ever made after his success Saturday Night Live. Critics praised Murphy’s funnymanship and natural charm that made him a unique talent in the original Beverly Hills Cop. Wendy Ide of The Times wrote in her review, “Much of the film’s appeal comes from its sizzling energy and sharp dialogue, much of which Murphy improvised on the spot..” The film also benefited from well-used supporting characters and sharp direction from Oscar nominee Martin Brest.

Why Beverly Hills Cop: Rotten Tomatoes Axel F’s audience score is so good

With just over 1000 ratings, fans were blown away by the long-awaited sequel

Positive reviews from fans and viewers alike agree with that
Axel F
it’s surprisingly funny and enjoyable when it could have easily been awful.

While Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F not as critically acclaimed as the original film, it has an almost identical audience score of 80%. The score of the new The Beverly Hills Cops the film is also based on a smaller sample size of over 1000 ratings compared to the over 250,000 ratings the original achieved over the years on Rotten Tomatoes. This massive difference in ratings likely has something to do with the potentially inflated audience score Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. It’s reasonable to believe that many of the new ratings are from fans of the franchise who are excited about a long-awaited sequel.

On the other hand, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F has nearly three times as many critical reviews on Rotten Tomatoes than the original does. Nina Metz of the Chicago Tribune writes: “Murphy might be one of the most talented performers of any generation, and it’s thrilling to see him back in the role that made him a movie star.” Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com writes, “From the beginning,”“Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” is lively and playful in a way that legacy sequels aren’t usually allowed to be..” Positive reviews from fans and viewers alike agree with that Axel F it’s surprisingly funny and enjoyable when it could have easily been awful.

What went wrong with the first two Beverly Hills Cop sequels?

Neither lived up to the original in any way

Many critics of 1987 Beverly Hills Cop The sequel disliked the film’s lack of story, pacing and target lines. Roger Ebert wrote in his 1-star review, “What is comedy? That’s a basic question, I know, but Cop II never thought to ask it.” However, the criticisms of the third film made the reviews of the second film seem like praise. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote: “Any juice left in the Cop franchise or Eddie Murphy’s once unstoppable career is ignominiously extinguished in this poor excuse for a sequel..” Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F transformed the franchise some forty years after it began and established that after all this time, Murphy still has it.