Movie Reviews

‘Beverly Hills Cop’ 4K UHD Blu-Ray Review – Eddie Murphy Action Comedy Still Delivers Huge Laughs

By Dillon Gonzales
December 21, 2020
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The movie critique portion of this review was written by my colleague Michele Arbir.

Ah, The ‘80s. One of the best things about the ‘80s is Eddie Murphy. My very first date was an Eddie Murphy movie; 48 Hours (1982). He was in his prime making a movie a year back then. Beverly Hills Cop was one of the high points of this era; it came out my senior year. The movie has a real simple story, but it is executed well by director Martin Brest. Released in 1984, the movie grossed $316 million at the box office to become the highest grossing movie of the year in the US. Almost 35 years later this movie is still very entertaining. The hubby and I were afraid we might get bored with this old ‘80s film, but it still had us laughing out loud. Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley oozed cocky charm that permeates every inch of this film and had us laughing all the way through.

Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) is a slick Detroit cop investigating the murder of a childhood friend in Beverly Hills, California. It’s a one-man mission to find the killer and bring him to justice. Foley’s methods though are a little unorthodox and what he unearths is a very lucrative drug operation to a local kingpin. He teams up in his own sort of way with Beverly Hills Detectives John Taggert (John Ashton) and Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) to crack the case. Murphy is really a one-man show, but the chemistry he has with Reinhold and Rosewood is what makes this movie. The film’s humor is witty, it is a lickety-split action-comedy with a cool soundtrack to boot.

Martin Brest did an amazing job directing and coaxed a standout performance out of Eddie Murphy. It’s one of the few comedies of the 80s to allot humor and personality to minor characters and it’s what also helps make this movie. Beverly Hills Cop is a fun cop comedy with hilarious scenes and great timing from the lead character. It has some fantastic dialogue and a really crisp and non-cheesy style to it. Murphy is funny, sweet, comes off natural, and not annoying. The action is pretty good; it has a few dull moments but overall it this movie changed the buddy cop film forever. They don’t make them like this anymore.

Video Quality

Beverly Hills Cop races to 4K UHD Blu-Ray with a gorgeous looking 2160p/Dolby Vision transfer that appears to stay faithful to the source. When compared with the accompanying 4K mastered Blu-Ray that was released earlier this year, this disc offers outstanding improvements in all respects. The UHD disc contains very natural, deep colors throughout including the bright Beverly Hills sky, the green of the foliage, the pale blue of Axel’s car and more. White levels are brighter and more stable without veering into blooming. Black levels are deep and allow the picture to maintain a good amount of depth and detail in darker environments. Skin tones look great and the clarity of the transfer gives you a great amount of facial detail including fine droplets of perspiration. The movie has a large amount of natural film grain that gives a lot of nice texture and detail to the transfer. There is some source-related softness in some shots, but nothing too distracting. The improvements in contrast and overall clarity are readily apparent, especially in unique details like Axel’s beat-up car. This is a wonderful looking release that thankfully maintains the integrity of the original vision.

Audio Quality

The 4K UHD Blu-Ray presents the movie with a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that is recycled from the previous Blu-Ray editions. It would have been nice for Paramount to give this one a Dolby Atmos surround track, as this track is a bit lackluster in execution. The music in the film is one of the standout aspects of the production, but it surprisingly fluctuates between something stable and clean to a bit more rough around the edges and lacking energy. There are points where the sound effects that should pack quite a punch barely register. Car crashes and gunshots present as hollow rather than mighty. At least the directionality of the sound is precise throughout. There are bursts of activity in the low end, mostly during certain music cues with heavier beats. This track does not give your surround speakers much of a workout, which is why the lack of an Atmos track is so disappointing. Dialogue does come through crisp and clean without ever being stepped on by competing sounds. This track is far from garbage, but it does not match the quality of the visuals we were given on this new disc.

Special Features

Commentary Track: Director Martin Brest provides a steadily informative track that features the occasional lull, but feels quite substantial when he is speaking. Brest discusses shooting in dangerous neighborhoods, inspirations for certain exchanges, shooting harrowing stunts, working with Murphy and more. Definitely worth checking out for fans of the film.

Deleted Scenes: Two scenes totaling four minutes are provided here featuring Axel being dissuaded from going to Beverly Hills and Axel getting ready to head to Beverly Hills.

Behind the Scenes – 1984 Interviews: Seven minutes of vintage behind-the-scenes interviews are provided here featuring the cast and crew discussing Axel’s journey, the difference between cops in Detroit and Beverly Hills, Murphy’s riffing and the place of Taggart and Rosewood in the film. These are a fun glimpse into the past.

Beverly Hills Cop – The Phenomenon Begins: A 29-minute retrospective that traces the development of the project, explores how Sylvester Stallone nearly starred in the film, delves into the casting process and more. There are some really interesting interviews with the cast and crew that are very worthwhile.

A Glimpse Inside the Casting Process: A ten-minute look at the casting process including how most of the cast were given their roles when Stallone was attached to star. There are some fun interviews with the casting director as well as most of the supporting cast.

The Music of Beverly Hills Cop: An eight-minute look at the iconic music in the film with the cast and crew including discussions on how the theme was like another character in the story and the lasting legacy.

Location Map: An interactive-map that leads to short interviews about various locations featured in the film including the police station, the art gallery, the strip club and more.

Theatrical Trailer: A two-and-a-half-minute trailer is provided here which accurately captures the tone of the film without spoiling all of the best parts.

BHC Mixtape ‘84: An option to jump to points in the film that feature notable songs such as The Heat Is On, Neutron Dance, Nasty Girl and more.

Final Thoughts

Beverly Hills Cop remains an incredibly entertaining mix of action and humor that showcases the talents of the great Eddie Murphy really well. The film is one that you can put on pretty much any time and just know you are going to be laughing consistently. Paramount Home Entertainment has wisely given this one a wonderful 4K UHD Blu-Ray upgrade that offers a substantial improvement in the image, but drops the ball somewhat in the audio department. The disc ports over all of the special features that make for a fun watch. Now that we have seen how good these films can look on 4K UHD Blu-Ray, let’s bring on the sequels sooner rather than later! Recommended

Beverly Hills Cop is currently available to purchase on 4K UHD Blu-Ray and Digital.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the 4K UHD Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Paramount Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.