Beverly Hills Cop III

1994 Comedy

The third entry in the popular Beverly Hills Cop series finds Detroit cop Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) returning yet again to Southern California, this time on the trail of two car thieves turned murderers. As he teams up again with L.A. cop Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold), Foley's investigation leads him to Wonder World, a theme park that is also the front for a major counterfeiting ring. More action and less wit are the trademarks of this film, which features Murphy dishing out his usual wisecracks, but with less flair and freshness than in the original film. Alan Young plays the old man who runs the amusement park, an interesting setting that still adds little to the tired premise.

Director: John Landis

Starring: Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, Hector Elizondo, Theresa Randle, Bronson Pinchot

Reviews

  • Landis's handling of the cop business is unnecessarily laborious, but Murphy's patented insincerity is winning. And a few of the slapstick set pieces are genuinely thrilling, especially a riotous nighttime chase scene.

    - The Washington Post

    29 November 2012

  • The Beverly Hills Cop formula shows serious signs of wear in its third outing as Eddie Murphy tries desperately to hold onto his tough-guy, mock-grin edge while screenwriters and director John Landis do little more than stir-fry lame gags with furious but tiresome fusilades of gunfire.

    Peter Stack - The San Francisco Chronicle

    29 November 2012

  • Beverly Hills Cop III is a flat-out action comedy in which the action is unimpressive and the comedy so mild it seldom hits the mark; for a series only into its third installment, Beverly Hills Cop III is shockingly toothless.

    - TV Guide

    29 November 2012

  • Though not quite the fiasco of revved-up gunplay that Beverly Hills Cop II was, this new movie, directed by John ''Rock-'em Sock-'em'' Landis, is just a clunky action thriller, with occasional comic moments rationed out to the audience like stray crumbs.

    Owen Gleiberman - Entertainment Weekly

    29 November 2012

  • Although the limits on Beverly Hills Cop III are pretty obvious, it's not a total write-off. Still, it's time to stop making movies about Murphy's Motown cop and start making one about Serge.

    Jay Carr - The Boston Globe

    29 November 2012

Awards

  • Worst Director

    Razzie Awards (1995)