My thoughts on the first one:
He’s at the top of his game here, Eddie Murphy, and his wit and charm – combined with a more than able supporting cast – make you forget that nothing much really happens, plot-wise. Then there’s THAT TUNE.
Then the second one:
Diminishing returns already in this belated sequel (three years is a long time when in a decade when they were churning out horror franchises in a matter of months) but at least we get some of those trademark Tony Scott visuals – backlit sunsets aplenty – and ridiculous gunplay bombast to pass the time. Plus a few digs at Sly Stallone for skipping out on the original to make Cobra.
And the third one, sigh:
It never should have been made, really. Eddie Murphy’s heart wasn’t in it – partly because his head had gone so far up his arse, probably also because the glass ceiling had yet to be cracked through for African-Americans in Hollywood – and John Landis was never the kind of director to make anything in the spirit of the original. He’s on record as saying he was hoping to turn shit into gold by augmenting a terrible script with on-the-set improv, but even if that worked, it wouldn’t have solved the serious tonal issues: mostly slapstick comedy and bloodless shootouts in a theme park setting scream ‘family movie’ but there’s enough (poor quality) swearing in the dialogue to secure an R rating, so what audience precisely is it aimed at?