Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F review – fish-out-of-water Eddie Murphy chases past glories

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Murphy’s maverick cop – and his theme music – are back to fight corruption, but four decades on there’s little energy to enliven their formulaic reunion Eddie Murphy isn’t finished yet – as he proved with his barnstormer of a performance as Blaxploitation pioneer Rudy Ray Moore in Dolemite Is My Name . But there’s something a bit tired and formulaic about this further go-around for his iconic Detroit cop Axel Foley from the Beverly Hills Cop action-comedy franchise which 40 years ago made Murphy an explosive Hollywood star – and whose catchy Axel F theme became an 80s anthem, duly revived here. He’s back for the fourth film, yet again leaving his Detroit turf to be a scruffy fish-out-of-water in the hilariously chi-chi world of Beverly Hills, yet again wryly noticing from the wheel of his car, on the way in, a montage of all the crazy California stuff, including a car registration plate reading: PRE-NUP. Axel’s grownup lawyer daughter Jane (Taylour Paige) is in Beverly Hills, menace
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Swallowed review – greasy gay body-horror offers plenty of icky moments

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There’s potential here for an exploration of queer power dynamics, but the film-makers have focused instead on gruesomeness

For reasons too complex to delve into here, horror as a genre has proved an adaptable vehicle for marginalised groups to explore the tensions between mainstream society and its discontents. So there has been a wave of female-centric horror films made by women, a renaissance in horror focusing on race thanks to Jordan Peele and others, and all kinds of scary films addressing ethnic identity by directors far and wide.

Swallowed, a very low-budget sci-fi/body horror with an out-and-proud gay angle, may prompt viewers to wonder why there aren’t more queer-themed horror flicks. The Hunger (1983) and Ginger Snaps (2000) spring to mind, but it seems as if the pickings are distinctly slimmer than in other areas.

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