Help trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to ship unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds energy to account and exposes the reality.Whether or not $5 or $50, each contribution counts.Help us to ship journalism with out an agenda.Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, the hit Netflix sequel to the long-running motion comedy franchise, comprises a delicate dig at a maligned Eddie Murphy flop – however just some followers have observed.The brand new movie, launched on Netflix this week, sees Murphy reprise the function of police detective Axel Foley, who returns to Beverly Hills after the lifetime of his former companion, Decide Reinhold’s Billy Rosewood, is threatened.The movie has been met with an uproarious response on-line, whereas The Impartial praised it for being “a potent reminder of Murphy’s unimaginable talent set” after years of being wasted as a comic book performer.One joke that has gone over the heads of some, nevertheless, is a reference to considered one of Murphy’s least-liked movies – and one which Murphy himself has critiqued. In an early scene, Axel is arrested by the Beverly Hills PD, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s hotshot cop Bobby Abbott going over his rap sheet with him.“It is a lot,” Abbott says. “Disturbing the peace, varied shootouts, evading the police. That is from ‘84, then there’s one from ‘87… after which ‘94. Not your best hour.”The road is a delicate reference to the years through which the unique Beverly Hills Cop movies had been launched, and notably the discharge of 1994’s Beverly Hills Cop III, a universally maligned sequel that put the franchise on ice for 30 years. The movie launched a brand new inventive staff to the collection, and noticed Axel dealing with off towards a gang of counterfeiters who function out of a theme park.Murphy famously dislikes the movie, calling it “rubbish” in 2015 and suggesting there have been issues with the script from day one. John Landis, the movie’s director, has additionally claimed that the film didn’t work as Murphy had determined to play Axel as a extra strait-laced character – which means not notably humorous – to mirror his maturity. He added, in a 2005 interview, that manufacturing of the movie “was a really unusual expertise”.Eddie Murphy in ‘Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F’ (Netflix)The movie has additionally been so broadly panned that the director of Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, Mark Molloy, was suggested to not watch it whereas making ready to take the job – and even revealed in an interview that Hollywood super-producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who produced the primary, second and fourth motion pictures within the collection, hasn’t seen it both.“There’s been a lot historical past with this franchise, however I by no means truly noticed Beverly Hills Cop III,” Molloy instructed The Hollywood Reporter. “I’ve by no means seen it, and Jerry hasn’t both. After I got here in, I stated to Jerry, ‘I haven’t seen Beverly Hills Cop III.’ And he was like, ‘I didn’t do it, so that you don’t must see it.’ And I used to be like, ‘OK, cool, Jerry. I’m going to let it go then’.”Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is streaming on Netflix.