Tony Scott month: Beverly Hills Cop 2

Beverly Hills Cop II By Azzam Abdur-Rahman I opened with Domino. The most maximalists view of what is Tony Scott's style as he moved into the new millennium but to really talk about Tony Scott’s impact on Cinema we need to take a step back and look at his earliest work. When Tony Scott was a journeyman director who was just making any movie he got behind look beautiful. This movie to me is the first Michael Bay movie that wasn’t made by Michael Bay. The color palette, the use of music, the visual language all become part of the cake of major action films moving into the 90’s and to me Beverly Hills Cop 2 does this better than any other film. In 1987, Scott is coming off of Top Gun. He has really impressed Bruckheimer and Simpson and has shown their investment in advertising/music video directors has really paid off. Looking at the films they know they can push a sequel on that look back at the first Beverly Hills Cop. That first film is directed by Martin Brest who is a solid director but does not add anything to the visual language of cinema. He was directing a movie that was in development hell that saw straight up action stars flux in and out of the lead. By the time Scott signs on for BHC 2 he is inheriting lighting in a bottle. Scott is now working with a super famous Eddie Murphy with something to prove that he can have great action elements in his action comedy. This movie looks beautiful and has aged beautifully. Gone are the flat color palettes of what Brest brought to the table. Scott makes every moment and image matter. Casting works the same way, all of the returning actors are having a great time but actors like Brigitte Nielson provide a visual menace and bravado the first film lacks. But the action is what really stands out. Scott proved he could shoot action well with Top Gun but that was a straight-up action film. Murphy isn’t a fighter jet in the sky and Scott was able to make Axel Foley look like a really strong cop while leaving Murphy to keep all of the wit and charm he added to the role. This film just did OK when it came out. Audiences were not ready for a film that deftly blended stunning action with comedy while still having visually arresting villian but Bruckheimer and Simpson saw the power in what Scott made for them. I said earlier this is Bay before Bay and I believe that if you put Bad Boys one on at the same time as Beverly Hills Cop 2 you suddenly see how much this film impact the choices that Simpson and Bruckheimer made going into the 90’s. They develop a formula around this film which becomes equally their strongest impact on Scott’s career as well as Hollywood. This is probably going to be my shortest write-up on this director but I felt this was important to point out. Cinema doesn’t always change with the dollars and cents. Sometimes it changes when producers see the power in someone’s style behind ahead of the times. Scott was always pushing the boundaries of blockbusters Hollywood cinema but its funny to think that there was a time before orange hues and every shot being visually arresting.