THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
The pressure is always on to make a grand finale for a trilogy and Paramount definitely had this problem with Beverly Hills Cop III.
PLOT
The 1994 film follows Detroit detective Axel Foley attempt to foil a car theft at a chip shop. What disappoints his superior Inspector Douglas Todd is the decision to use his handpicked team and go in without the assist of SWAT. In the process, a group of four mean rip off the car thieves by killing them instead of paying for their services. As Foley raids, he gets outgunned and Todd gets shot by the ringleader. Foley pursues the killer only to be intercepted by Secret Service Agent Steve Fulbright (Stephen McHattie), who informs him he has to be let go in order to crack a larger scheme he’s involved. After Todd’s funeral, Foley returns to Beverly Hills as clues lead him to the theme park Wonder World. There, he reunites with Billy Rosewood who’s been promoted as Deputy Director. He also meets his new partner Jon Flint, replacing the retired John Taggart. Because the latter is friends with the park’s head of security, Ellis DeWald, he lets him know Foley will attend Wonder World to investigate. At the park, he befriends park employee Janice Perkins while touring behind the scenes facilities. When observed by security, he gets shot at and chased all over the park. He tries hiding in one ride, the Spider Ferris wheel, but when they bringing him back, they accidentally jam the ride as a whole. This results in him saving kids from a fatal accident. After this, he gets brought to park manager Orrin Sanderson for the commotion he caused. Due to skeptical camera footage mistaken him to have started it, not showing he was shot at first, he gets riled up and forced out of the park when identifying DeWald as Todd’s killer. Rosewood and Flint have a hard time believing him due to the suspect having an impeccable public reputation. Foley later gets a visit by Janice and the park’s owner, ‘Uncle Dave’ Thornton (Alan Young), who confirm something suspicious is going on with the park after sharing a close friend went missing after inspecting the grounds two weeks prior. By evening, he and Rosewood attend a banquet honoring DeWald for law enforcement officer of the year. He tries to heckle him into spilling his secrets publicly, but the antagonist rebuffs him by mocking the fact he killed his superior. The next day, Janice shows him blueprints that guide him into looking at a closed off section of the park. There, Foley finds DeWald & Sanderson running counterfeit ring, using the park as a front. This means DeWald was collecting mint paper stored at the opening theft. When examining the cryptic message left by Uncle Dave’s friend Roger, he confirms it to be written on a sheet of stolen mint paper. Before he can make use of the evidence, DeWald shoots Uncle Dave and frames Foley for it. Once he drops off Uncle Dave at the hospital, Foley chooses to storm the park to prove his innocence and calls Rosewood & Flint for backup. Through an intense shootout, he does kill DeWald but also suspects Fulbright to be an accomplice. Before the corrupt agent can shoot him, Flint shoots him down first. Sometime later, Uncle Dave recovers from his injuries, as do the officer protagonists who bust the operation. The film ends with Thornton thanking Foley for his service by making a Wonder World character inspired by him, ‘Axel Fox’.
THOUGHTS
Understandably, my hopes were too high on this film being amazing due to it being directed by John Landis, who directed Trading Places and Coming to America, much likable comedies that also starred Eddie Murphy. Just because things worked out before, does not mean it’ll work again for sure and I realized that when it came to this because it is nowhere near the same quality as the previous two. Part of the reason to me goes to the comedy feels toned down and when the jokes occur, they fall flat. Like I want to be happy when Foley reunites with Serge (Bronson Pinchot), a guy who he met at the gallery in the first film, but the nostalgia out there is so forced. Then things get fictional when showing off the Annihilator 2000, a product that’s basically a super gun that has a radio. I don’t care how much people would have pay for it, there is no way it would sell in reality because the design of it feels all so illogical. And hey I want to respect they made a fictional part from the outside, but you are not fooling me that the indoor ride was just a disguised version of Universal Studios’ Earthquake portion of the signature Studio Tour. If that ride was gonna be in the movie, they should’ve just stuck with the actual park being the setting. Lacking comedy does make sense because Murphy has to portray Foley as one who is a smart cop but barely has a clear conscience due to the loss of his mentor. If they really wanted to make it more grounded, they should’ve promoted it as a drama and I would’ve been sold. Either way, it is a tale of not forgetting your roots which is why this path of justice matters deeply to Foley. Gilbert Hill barely had much scenes from the whole trilogy combined as the tense Inspector, yet he always had this odd form of clarity to imply he means well. Had he not been on top of Foley like he was before, the protagonist probably would’ve not been the humble kind we know him for. Losing him sucks a lot more than that because Axel didn’t take his advice and it led to such a loss. I just wish there was a better villain to root against. Timothy Carhart makes DeWald too simple of an antagonist because he’s plain greedy and doesn’t mind killing for it. The guy is very lucky no one in the banquet’s front row heard him confess to murder under his breath. Even John Saxon was too simple on being blindly loyal of a disciple as Sanderson rather than taking the time to understand their ways, or give some kind of flair the way past villains got. And it was so predictable that Fubright was a secret accomplice. I mean he gave nothing but dead stares when staring at Foley and it was my giveaway he was onto something. I’m just surprised Foley didn’t figure it out sooner. It was cool for Judge Reinhold to come back as a natural loyal confidant Rosewood is known for, but it felt weird without Taggart. I got nothing against Hector Elizondo who approached Flint as one who thought realistically, but it was too obvious he was replacing John Ashton and it felt weird everytime I thought about it. I had nothing against Theresa Randle because she nade Janice self aware something wrong was going down at the park, but I think her relationship with Foley was rushed at the end. Like I feel they should have more in common besides doing the right thing before pursuing a relationship. These things are only the tip of the iceberg because there were other things that didn’t make sense storywise. For instance, I feel like Foley should’ve told Rosewood he was coming back to Beverly Hills because that way, he would’ve not gotten stuck with the new check-in. And if the security wanted to stop the ride, they should’ve told the park employee Foley was a criminal before their failed attempt to hijack it led to a near fatal disaster. They even get dumber when shooting at him in open park hours and later giving him a chance to figure out how to choose Annihilator 2000. These guys really set the bar in being dumbass henchmen if you ask me. Also, it was bad suspense for Uncle Dave to be in Foley’s hotel room rather than wait at the door. I mean that’s bad suspense compared to the first film when we get introduced to Mikey. It even got weird for a firefighter to tell Flint what happened to Uncle Dave. That’s way too random of a way to get involved in the climax. And I don’t understand why Rosewood was taking his time reaching for Foley after breaking free from captivity DeWald’s men put him in. And lastly, I can admit Uncle Dave made an adorable gesture of appreciation to Foely when making a theme park mascot inspired by him, but I can’t buy the fact it took like a week to get it done whether or not he owns the park. Happy ending or not, we could’ve got a clear resolution saying it took months to get done instead of any less. With all being said, it’s hard to ignore these flaws to enjoy what’s given. To wrap up, Beverly Hills Cop III is the franchise’s weakest link for failing to make anything different work or nail the nostalgic power Hollywood is all about. I don’t like skipping movies, but I would suggest avoiding disappointment if you’re a fan.
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