Plot Summary
Eddie Murphy is back as Axel Foley in the long-awaited fourth entry in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise.
In this latest movie, Foley returns to Beverly Hills after hearing his daughter Jane is in trouble. The reunion between the two of them is not a happy one as their relationship is strained.
Axel hopes to mend their relationship but his attempts are scuppered by a crooked cop named Cade Grant who takes Jane hostage near the end of the film.
In this ending explained article for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, we briefly recap the plot and ask the question: Does Foley save Jane at the end of the movie?
Why is Jane in trouble?
Jane is a defence attorney whose most recent client is a man named Sam Enriquez who has been incarcerated for killing a cop named Copeland. Sam, a former drug mule, argues that he has been framed for the killing and for also peddling drugs.
Jane believes the narcotics wing of Beverly Hills PD is responsible for framing Sam and for killing the cop. When she investigates her theory, she is attacked by thugs who tell her to drop the case.
Shortly after, Jane calls on her father’s old friend Billy Rosewood, who is himself investigating corruption in the police department while working as a private detective. He tries to help Jane find security camera footage to prove Sam’s innocence. But as he investigates some shady goings-on at a pier, he is captured by somebody at gunpoint.
What does Axel discover?
Axel heads to Beverly Hills after hearing his daughter is in danger. She’s not pleased to see him at first but eventually agrees to team up with him to crack the corruption case.
Also on the scene is Detective Abbott, who assists Axel and Jane. Together, they discover Captain Cade Grant, who previously accused Jane of defending a “cop killer”, is using his team of corrupt cops to protect a cartel that is laundering drugs in Beverly Hills.
They’re protecting the cartel so they can get a cut of their profits. Apparently, Rosewood and Copeland were trying to expose what was going on, which led to Copeland being killed and Rosewood being kidnapped. Grant framed Sam for the murder of Copeland but he didn’t count on Axel and co getting close to discovering what he’d been up to.
Rosewood knows the location of an SD card containing video footage that will incriminate Grant. This is why Grant kidnapped him.
After Axel and Abbott rescue Rosewood, they discover Grant has kidnapped Jane and is holding her in his mansion headquarters as a ransom for the SD card.
Does Axel save Jane?
Axel, Abbott, Rosewood, and John Taggart, infiltrate the mansion to save Jane. Following a shootout between the group and Grant’s men, Axel finds Jane and Grant together.
A face-off occurs, during which Grant fires his gun at Jane but inadvertently shoots Axel instead when the hero cop jumps in front of his daughter to save her life.
Grant thinks he has the upper hand because Axel is out for the count. But his moment of superiority ends when Abbott appears and kills him by shooting him in the head.
How does Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F end?
As the movie nears its end, Jane visits her father at the hospital and discovers he has snuck out to eat something more appetising than hospital food. She tracks him down and tells him Grant’s criminal racket has been exposed and that the video footage on the SD card helped to clear Sam’s name.
Axel apologizes to Jane for his failure as a father and she apologizes to him for cutting him out of her life. Their scene together ends on a happy note as the two of them mend their broken relationship.
In the final scene, Axel surprises Taggart and Rosewood who were sitting in their car and keeping an eye on the hospital to ensure Axel didn’t escape, as a favour to Jane.
Axel managed to sneak out from under their noses, of course, which they discover when he enters their car. The movie ends with the series’ customary freeze frame as the three old friends decide to hang out with one another, just like old times.
Read More: Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F Review