Beverly Hills Cop II

What’s it about?

In this sequel to Beverly Hills Cop, Axel heads back to Beverly Hills to investigate a series of robberies called the ‘Alphabet Crimes’ and the gangs’ ties to the attempted murder of his friend Lieutenant Bogomil.

The facts

• Directed by Tony Scott (Top Gun, True Romance, Enemy of the State)
• English language
• Starring Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton and Brigitte Nielsen
• Runtime: 100 minutes
• Sequel to 1984 film, Beverly Hills Cop

Why did it get this rating?

This film was classified in 1987 by the Chief Censor of Films. At that time it was originally classified as RP13 with the descriptive note ‘some content may offend’. Under the modern classification system that came into effect with the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act (1993) this film was subsequently cross-rated by the Film and Video Labelling Body to M violence and offensive language.

This rating may not reflect the current approach to classifying this type of content and so we recommend taking note of the content breakdown below.

Violence

The film features several scenes involving gun violence, shoot-outs, and vehicle chases. For instance, a man is ambushed and shot twice after stopping to assist a woman with her car, with some blood shown but no close-ups of the wounds. Additionally, during a robbery, a man is shot in the head with blood splatter visible on the wall, and another man is shot in the chest, though the camera avoids graphic details.

As a product of its time, the film's portrayal of violence reflects the era's cinematic norms, which can somewhat dampens the impact of these scenes today.

Offensive language

Words such as “f**k” “goddamn” “bullsh*t” “sh*t” are spoken and women are referred to as “bit*hes”.

Sexual references and nudity

Throughout the film there are scenes where the cameras focus is on women’s bodies, especially breasts and bottoms, both clothed and naked. There are several scenes of women who are dancing topless on stage. There are sexual innuendos about women throughout the film such as “can suck a golf ball through twenty feet of garden hose”.

Further information

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