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1994-06-02
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5KB
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79 lines
Lights Out Movie Reviews
Copyright (c) 1994, Bruce Diamond
All rights reserved
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ BEVERLY HILLS COP 3: John Landis, director. Steven E. │
│ de Souza, screenplay. Starring Eddie Murphy, Judge │
│ Reinhold, Hector Elizondo, Theresa Randle, Bronson │
│ Pinchot, Timothy Carhart, John Saxon, and Alan Young. │
│ Paramount. Rated R. │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
The Axel's broken, may as well buy a new vehicle. I'm still
hard-pressed to understand why a third BEVERLY HILLS COP has been
foisted off on the public, other than to prop up Eddie Murphy's
flagging popularity and to possibly pump some money into Para-
mount's coffers. (Some would say there's no other reason to make
a movie than to make money, but that's pretty cynical thinking.)
Adding director John Landis to the franchise is a good move,
since he directed Murphy in two of his better efforts (TRADING
PLACES, 1983, and COMING TO AMERICA, 1988), but it's a Landis
truism that he's only as good as his material. Unfortunately,
BEVERLY HILLS COP 3 is rather generic and predictable material to
be working with.
It always takes a fellow cop being shot to send Detroit cop
Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) scurrying off to California, and this
time it's no different: his captain dies in his arms, and Axel's
on the trail of a gang of criminals who have shot up a chop shop
that Foley had staked out. They leave evidence that points to
WonderWorld, an amusement park in L.A. loosely patterned after
Disneyland. Foley's on his way, with some government entity in
tow (they never identify themselves, but references are made to
the FBI, the CIA, and the Secret Service along the way -- pay
attention, that's a clue). Foley traces the criminals to the
head of security for WonderWorld, but nobody believes him.
That's when he shifts into high gear, Murphy-style.
L.A. cop Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) is back to help
Foley -- well, actually, to get him out of trouble, along with a
new partner, of sorts, played by Hector Elizondo. They stumble
and fumble their way through an easily-anticipated script by
Steven E. de Souza, one of the credited screenwriters of the
messy FLINTSTONES script. Murphy sleepwalks through most of the
movie, running the Axel Foley character on autopilot and leaving
Landis and the rest of the cast to pick up the energy level.
Landis gamely tries to do so (an action sequence involving Foley
and two scared kids in a malfunctioning amusement ride is tops),
but it's hard to squeeze excitement out of a movie when you know
whodunnit, wheretheydunnit, and whosinonnit as soon as Foley
reaches the park. The fact that Foley hasn't been fired from the
Detroit police for his AWOL, out-of-jurisdiction shenanigans just
proves the filmmakers only have contempt for any semblance of
coherent reality.
This contempt is amply demonstrated in the opening scene,
where Murphy is briefing a squad of cops just before they bust the
chop shop. Murphy isn't even acting in this scene; he's just
this rich dude sayin' a buncha lines he don't b'lieve in, and
having a hard time makin' us b'lieve in 'em, too. The other
actors in the scene are window dressing. In a line that's
supposed to be ironic, Foley tells his captain, "I don't need no
SWAT team coming in here and shooting up my evidence." Instead
of comic irony, the line comes out sounding like sloppy script-
ing, as thought the filmmakers forgot that Foley doesn't care one
whit about shooting up evidence, as long as he's the one holding
the gun. And we sit and chuckle, munching our popcorn, as Foley
starts another bloodbath in L.A.
Even guest shots from Bronson Pinchot and Alan Young (Wilbur
from TV's MR. ED), and cameos featuring the likes of George
Lucas, Ray Harryhausen, Martha Coolidge, and John Singleton can't
convince me that "It's On!". This Foley artist needs to be
retired from the movie biz until he comes up with fresh material.
RATING: 0