Beverly Hills Cop Axel F review: The heat is off in new sequel

The "Axel F" in the title is Axel Foley, one of Eddie Murphy's most beloved roles. His theme song , Harold Faltermeyer's "Axel F," is one of the great movie instrumentals, a calling card that immediately evokes the character in your mind the way Henry Mancini's theme conjures up the Pink Panther.

Foley is a street smart Detroit detective who, in the original film, visited Beverly Hills to investigate the murder of one of his friends. He ran afoul of the Beverly Hills Police Department, but eventually bonded with detectives Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and Taggart (John Ashton).

The trio reunited in 1987′s dreadful "Beverly Hills Cop II," which was an even bigger hit than the first film. Only Rosewood reteamed with Foley for 1994′s "Beverly Hills Cop III," widely considered the worst of the series (it's not — "Cop II" is the worst) and notable here only for the detail of Taggart's retirement from the police force.

After a 30-year gap, "Axel F" not only reunites Ashton, Murphy, and Reinhold, it brings back Paul Reiser's Detective Friedman from the first two movies and Bronson Pinchot's wacky art gallery salesman, Serge, from installments one and three. As the 2-hour runtime drags on, it becomes evident that director Mark Malloy and writers Will Beall, Tom Gormican, and Kevin Etten will do anything to goose the fans, no matter how nonsensical it may be.

The attempts at fan service are so relentless that we even get poorly remastered versions of songs from the soundtracks of the first two movies — Bob Seger's Oscar-nominated " Shakedown ," Glenn Frey's " The Heat Is On ," and The Pointer Sisters' " Neutron Dance " blare through the speakers at certain points. They sound terrible.

"Axel F" follows the same pattern as its predecessors: Open with a chase through Detroit that causes maximum property damage, then find some danger-filled reason to get Foley to Beverly Hills. This time, it's his lawyer daughter, Jane (Taylour Paige), who is defending a drug smuggling prisoner accused of killing cops. She thinks he might have been framed. Her theory appears to hold water; some masked men try to kill her.

Meanwhile, Rosewood has quit the Beverly Hills police force and become a private investigator. His former boss, the unretired Police Chief Taggart, refused to believe his claim that fellow officer Captain Grant (Kevin Bacon) might be in cahoots with a drug cartel. Never mind that Grant is wearing a Rolex no honest cop can afford, is a member of the Narcotics force, and is played by Kevin Bacon.

Rosewood disappears after alerting Foley that his daughter is in danger. That's enough to bring him to Beverly Hills to investigate. But Jane wants nothing to do with the father who deserted her. Making matters worse, the cop who will eventually become Foley's partner in the investigation, Detective Bobby Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), used to date Jane.

You know what happens next. "Axel F" doesn't make a single plot move that you can't see coming miles away. To be honest, such familiarity wouldn't be a big deal if the film weren't so poorly edited and shot. Action scenes that are meant to quicken the pulse have no sense of geography and look like random stock footage edited together. Characters often don't appear to be in the same scene together.

Out of all the reunited actors, Murphy is the only one who hasn't seemed to age. There's still a roguish charm to his face that he uses to great effect here. He can easily get a laugh just by looking at us and smiling, or tossing off a profane line with his impeccable delivery. The chemistry between him, Reinhold, and Ashton remains, which will please fans.

Paige, so good in "Zola," is unconvincing as Foley's daughter. I get the feeling that her character is being set up to succeed Murphy (there's a "Beverly Hills Cop 5′′ reportedly in the works ), but Jane has so little charisma that we'd miss her Dad immensely. Gordon-Levitt is a memorable new addition, though it feels like he's in another movie altogether.

Bacon, as always, gives good villain, offering a variation on the first film's big baddie, Victor Maitland.

I can imagine my Black brethren firing up this film on Netflix during their July Fourth cookouts (and being mad at me for panning it). But "Axel F" is a joyless affair, a mediocre simulacrum that made me long for the original. As soon as it was over, Netflix popped up a screen for "Beverly Hills Cop," as if the streaming service were taunting me for not watching that movie instead.

Directed by Mark Malloy. Written by Will Beall, Tom Gormican, and Kevin Etten. Starring Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Kevin Bacon, Taylour Paige, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Paul Reiser, Bronson Pinchot. 117 min. On Netflix. R (violence, "filth-flarn-filth" — I mean, profanity)

Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe's film critic.