- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24
- Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French Dolby 2.0 Surround, Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
- Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish
- Region: ABC (Region-Free)
- Rating: R
- Discs: 1
- Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment
- Blu-ray Release Date: May 17, 2011
- List Price: $24.99
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BestBuy.com:
Purchase Beverly Hills Cop on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Film
[Rating:4/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
The Film
[Rating:4/5]
So, Sylvester Stallone plays a gruff Detroit cop who heads out to Beverly Hills to find the people responsible for killing his brother. While out there, he finds romance with a high class art gallery owner and friendship with two not-so-clever Beverly Hills Police detectives. Um, oh, I do beg your pardon, I was thinking of Beverly Hills Cop as it was originally cast and scripted, that is, when Sly was supposed to be in the lead. This is Beverly Hills Cop take two, as envisioned once Eddie Murphy stepped into the lead role. The entire cast from the Stallone period was still there, but now the script was slightly re-written for the hot young rising comedian – and man was Murphy hot in those days. The guy seemed like his star was going to head right into a parallel universe it was shooting off so fast. And, it’s a little difficult for the youngsters to understand today, but it was a big deal for a black male to be in a leading role like that and to have such authority too, playing the good guy, waving guns around, not being afraid of anyone. It really was something.
Well, in Beverly Hills Cop, Murphy played Axel Foley, a young Detroit detective who didn’t always play by the rules. When his old friend shows up one night at his apartment waving around German barer bonds and is then killed, Foley takes a two week vacation and heads out to Beverly Hills to investigate. He meets up with their old friend Jeannette (Lisa Eilbacher), who is now running an art gallery and is being helped by the man Foley thinks is responsible for their friend’s death. But Foley being the wild type immediately gets on the bad side of the Beverly Hills Police Department. So, they put two of their detectives to tail him while he investigates Victor Maitland (Steven Berkoff). It becomes a wild action-packed comedic journey involving guns, bananas, and smuggled drugs as Foley more than wears out his welcome in Beverly Hills on his way to not only solving the murder, but possibly bringing down one of the town’s most esteemed residents.
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Beverly Hills Cop looks darn good for a film of its age and production values. Despite a pretty rough looking beginning over the opening credits, the AVC/MPEG-4 encodement settles into a relatively clean and radiant image with stable color reproduction. The sunny outdoor shots look the best as some of the darker areas and shadowy scenes are just a bit grainier and also show some hints of video noise. Otherwise, Cop looks pleasantly film-like.
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
I know the DTS-HD Master Audio mix says “5.1”, but you can forget about the surround channels in this mix for the most part. They are barely audible with some ambience. The sound resides upfront with a good, wide stereo image across the three front channels. The sound is only marred by the constant presence of crackle in the dialogue. There isn’t too much weight in the low frequencies either, but the midrange is solid.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
There are no new high definition supplements offered up here, but the “making ofs” and interview segments are all very interesting and informative to watch.
The supplements provided with this release are:
- Commentary by Director Martin Brest
- Beverly Hills Cop – The Phenomenon Begins (1.33:1; 480i/60; 0:29.11)
- A Glimpse Inside the Casting Process (1.33:1; 480i/60; 0:09.37)
- The Music of Beverly Hills Cop (1.33:1; 480i/60; 0:07.49)
- Location Map – Check the locations featured in the film on this interactive map.
- Theatrical Trailer (1.78:1; 1080p/24)
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:4/5]
Beverly Hills Cop finds Eddie Murphy in one of his finest comedic roles on the big screen. He was on top of his game and a huge star. There really was no bigger comedian than Eddie Murphy at the time and he was proving he could put the butts in the seats at the box office with this classic action comedy that is well worth owning in this solid release. Recommended.
Additional Screen Captures
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[amazon-product align=”right”]B004QXJZYO[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase Beverly Hills Cop on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Film
[Rating:4/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
