Review: Beverly Hills Cop Collection (Blu-ray)

Plot: #1) A freewheeling Detroit cop pursuing a murder investigation finds himself dealing with the very different culture of Beverly Hills. #2) Axel Foley returns to Beverly Hills to help Taggart and Rosewood investigate Chief Bogomil’s near-fatal shooting and the series of “alphabet crimes” associated with it. #3) Axel Foley, while investigating a car theft ring, comes across something much bigger than that: the same men who killed his boss are running a counterfeit money ring out of a theme park in Los Angeles.

Director: Martin Brest, Tony Scott & John Landis

Aspect Ratio: 1.85.1, 2.39:1 & 1.85.1

Runtime: 105 min, 100 min & 104 min

Rotten Tomatoes Consensus:

  1. (81%) The buddy cop movie continues its evolution unabated with this Eddie Murphy vehicle that’s fast, furious, and funny.
  2. (46%) Eddie Murphy remains appealing as the wisecracking Axel Foley, but Beverly Hills Cop II doesn’t take him — or the viewer — anywhere new enough to justify a sequel.
  3. (10%) Despite being in a theme park, Beverly Hills Cop III forgets to have any fun as it churns out uninspired violence and witless gags, with an uncharacteristically lethargic Eddie Murphy not helping matters.

“The Axel Foley trilogy has never looked or sounded better. This remaster is a must own!”

Review:

Starring the incomparable Eddie Murphy, the three wildly entertaining Beverly Hills Cop films earned a combined $735M+ worldwide, as well as two Academy Award nominations and a Grammy Award for the first film’s Original Score. Good news, you can get your eyes and ears on the newly remastered 3-Movie Collection Blu-ray on January 14, 2020 with brand new bonus features and never-before-seen deleted scenes. Who wouldn’t want more of that?

I have nothing but positives things to say about this collection! All three movies were shot on film and after all these years they still hold their filmatic look, especially through the remaster. The only thing different about these movies are the way they were individually shot. Why? All three films feature different directors, aspect ratios and principal cinematographers — it’s not a big deal, but you will notice this more clearly watching them back to back to back. (Side note: there were a few soft scenes in every movie, but it was nothing too distracting and there is no obvious use of DNR.)

Beverly Hills Cop: You will notice right away that this new remaster of the 1984 film is sharper than ever because of the added detail and color. This new detail will be the most obvious in the characters faces and clothing — various little details will surface that weren’t there before. Color gets a boost all the way through the film too, you will notice this especially in the various scenes under the Beverly Hills sun. You can rest assured that it’s all around solid-jump of an upgrade across the board on detail, color and contrast.

Beverly Hills Cop II: Just as the first film, you will notice that this new remaster is sharper than the 1987 original with a moderate increase to detail and color. I wouldn’t say it looks as good as the first film, but that’s due to the added layer grain that wasn’t present in the first. The grain isn’t distracting to me, but I know there are some grain haters out there who would want this noted. Regardless of what I say, this is also the best the film has looked, though the first is more credible if I had to compare the two.

Beverly Hills Cop III: Just as the first two films, you will notice that this new remaster is more sharp with added detail and color, but in this case it’s the best looking of all the three films. The final film was made in 1994 which gives 10 extra years of technology since the original, so this is to be expected. The majority of this film takes place during the day at an amusement park which gives all the opportunity for bright colors and great lighting. Character close-ups and background are sharp and full of detail — this would be a film that would look great in UHD. Once again this is the best the film has ever looked.

Let me just repeat myself again, every disc is an upgrade — every film looks the best it’s ever been.

In conclusion —

If for some reason you’re not a fan of discs or you just want it in the best possible format, you can get all of these films in 4K UHD digitally with (HDR) high dynamic range right now. I don’t know how much that HDR bump would do, but I’m sure it looks great because it will add yet another dimension to the remaster. Beyond that, you can pick up this 3-movie collection at your local retailer when it releases on Blu-ray Tuesday, January 14th. The series has never looked better and its a must own if you are a long time fan looking for a refresh. Highly recommended!

As a side note, there’s a rumor that the Beverly Hills Cop collection, along with the upcoming 4th film on Netflix could get a physical UHD release-set, so be on the lookout for more news on that too.

Are you a fan of these movies? Will you be picking these up to own? Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Cheers,

Matt.

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