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By
NICK ZEGARAC
In "Beverly Hills Cop" Eddie
Murphy is Axel Foley, a hard living Detroit cop
investigating the murder of his good friend Mikey
Russo (James Tandino) in easy living Beverly
Hills. The fish out of water premise has dated
somewhat but it is remarkable how fresh Murphy's
vein of comedy remains after nearly twenty years.
Simply put, he is a riot. Whether he's tearing
apart the Harrow Club or shoving bananas into tail
pipes, it's easy to see why Eddie Murphy became
the number one box office draw in America during
the mid 80s.
Judge Reinhold (Rosewood) and John Ashton
(Taggart) are the two congenially hapless
detectives assigned to oversee that Axel does not
run amuck with his innuendos that Beverly Hills
big shot, Victor Maitland (Steven Berkoff) is
actually responsible for Mikey's murder. Lisa
Eilbacher costars as Jenny Summers -- a mutual
friend now in Victor's employ, who may hold the
key to the mystery behind the murder. As the
effeminate Serge, Bronson Pinchot gives a
brilliant cameo performance. Director Martin Brest
nimbly bounds from one comic vignette to the next,
linking the barrage of one liners and slapstick
humor with a narrative that we never take as mere
pretext rather than plot.
Unfortunately, nobody at Paramount Home Video
seems to have reasoned the cultural impact of this
film. Paramount's DVD release is dated and full of
digital problems. Colors are dated, faded and
weak. So are the black levels. Some scenes appear
incredibly out of focus. Loss of fine detail makes
for a generally soft visual presentation.
Aliasing, shimmering, edge enhancement and
pixelization are present throughout. Truly,
there's very little to recommend this visual
presentation. The audio has been remastered to 5.1
but has a very hollow sound. Extras include some
snippets that attempt to sum up the film in just
under thirty minutes and the original trailer. |
