Beverly Hills Cop 4K UHD Review

Flower Delivery is Life

“Given energy by Harold Faltermeyer’s snappy, catchy Axel F. electronic theme, Beverly Hills Cop’s enthusiasm matches Foley’s own willingness to do right. There’s no fear in approaching Victor Maitland (Steven Berkoff) when this arrogant art buyer is a suspect. Process only delays things when dealing with the affluent, so Foley takes a working vacation, tracking down Maitland’s empire. Those drugs Maitland deals? They keep Foley’s home state broken.”

Read more in our 35th anniversary Blu-ray review

Video

The same 4K master used for the earlier Blu-ray features here, meaning impeccably clean film stock, free from blemishes, scratches, or dirt. Encoding wards off trouble when grain naturally spikes. Mostly, it’s consistent.

Beverly Hills Cop doesn’t leap from the screen like some remasters. There’s a likely reason why. Slight low-pass filtering mars the transfer. It’s not always visible, but certainly impactful. Watch closely during Maitland’s visit to the art gallery as he speaks to Summers – there’s minor smearing as their heads turn/move. Detail flattens too, if not completely eroded; fidelity sticks around, resolved and sharp, albeit softened.

As usual, the real kick comes from the Dolby Vision/HDR pass. Fantastic depth when inside dark warehouses brings black levels new heft. Dimensionality improves then, obviously. California sun glistens from exteriors near the pearly police station or Maitland’s mansion. Overall brightness shows superb gain over the Blu-ray.

Tweaks to color push too-peach flesh tones in spots, a minor irritant on a presentation otherwise stellar in saturation. Strip club reds glow, and trees/shrubs produce great density. It’s all left alone, lifted slightly, but without marring the ’80s film aesthetic via digital grading.

Audio

Copying the DTS-HD track, there’s no difference on the UHD over the Blu-ray. Music stretches range a little, at least catching the low-end, if not one for power. Cautious mastering preserves the material as-is, pushing light ambiance in bars, while leaving the surrounds alone for most of the runtime.

Stock gunshots and flat treble match the era’s norms, preserved well. Dialog likewise exhibits age, but is high on clarity.

Extras

For this edition (same as the Blu-ray prior), Paramount digs up two deleted scenes lasting just under four minutes. Then, they dress up promotional interviews from ‘84 with new graphics, letting those run for under seven minutes. Kudos for adding some pizazz. The disc is otherwise the same as the previous release, with director Martin Best’s commentary in the lead.

That’s followed by a fun (if now dated) half-hour retrospective, Beverly Hills Cop: The Phenomenon Begins. A Glimpse Inside the Casting Process details Stallone’s involvement, followed by another piece on the music. A location map is what it says, linked to even more featurettes on how the set designers did their part. There’s a trailer for completeness sake too.

Full disclosure: This Blu-ray was provided to us for review. This has not affected the editorial process. For information on how we handle review material, please visit our about us page to learn more.

The following six screen shots serve as samples for our subscription-exclusive set of 47 full resolution uncompressed 4K screen shots grabbed directly from the UHD: