Metro

Plot synopsis:
Scott Roper (Eddie Murphy) is the best hostage negotiator in San Francisco. His girlfriend Veronica "Ronnie" Tate (Carmen Ejogo) is a newspaper reporter.While listening to a horse race on his car stereo, Scott is called downtown where a man named Earl (Donal Logue) is holding 17 hostages in a bank. Scott rescues the hostages by shooting Earl, though Earl's wound is non-fatal.Scott is then assigned a partner sharpshooter Kevin McCall (Michael Rapaport). That night, Scott takes his friend, Lieutenant Sam Baffert (Art Evans), to see a man named Michael Korda (Michael Wincott).Scott waits downstairs while Sam is in Korda's apartment. Sam asks Korda about a man who deals in stolen jewellery, because Sam suspects that some of the dealer's jewels came from Korda, who is a professional jewel thief. Sam's visit with Korda ends with Korda violently stabbing Sam to death in an elevator. When Scott hears a woman in the building scream at the sight of Sam's body, Scott rushes to the elevator and witnesses Sam's corpse.Scott wants revenge on Korda, but Captain Frank Solis (Denis Arndt) refuses to let Scott work the case, so Scott decides to work the case on his own.Scott and Kevin later are called to a downtown jewellery store where hostages are being held. When Scott sees that Korda is the hostage taker, Korda grabs a hostage and leaves in a truck. Scott and Kevin use Captain Solis's car to chase Korda. Korda wrecks the truck, and boards a trolley car, shoots the operator when he challenges Korda, the trolley accelerates to runaway speed, while Scott and Kevin chase the trolley car. While up close, Scott jumps onto the trolley, leaving Kevin to drive Solis's car.Scott and Kevin manage to stop the trolley car, and they chase Korda into a parking garage, where Korda tries to run Scott over with a car. Scott and Kevin still manage to apprehend Korda.During visitation at the jail with his cousin Clarence Teal (Paul Ben-Victor), Korda orders Teal to kill Ronnie as a way to seek revenge on Scott. Teal shows up at Ronnie's apartment and attacks Ronnie. Scott arrives just in time and chases Teal down the fire escape, and after a knife fight, Teal is hit and killed by a car. An angry Scott visits Korda in jail and warns him to stay away from Ronnie, showing him an autopsy picture of Teal, which enrages Korda.Some time later, Korda escapes from the jail. Soon after, he kidnaps Ronnie, luring Scott and McCall into a confrontation at an abandoned shipyard. Korda threatens to kill Ronnie by decapitating her on the cutting machine she is pinned to if Scott doesn't follow his instructions. While all of this is going on, McCall is situated atop a building outside with his sniper rifle watching the action. During the sequence, Korda prepares to run over Scott with his sports car. However, as he is charging towards Scott, Korda is shot at by McCall, causing him to miss Scott completely and crash through the front of the warehouse building. Scott then goes to free Ronnie from the cutting machine. After a shoot-out between Korda and McCall, the latter is shot once in the abdomen but survives. Scott then chases after Korda in Scott's truck, and after a lengthy battle over control of the truck, Scott leaps out of the way as Korda rams into a stack of explosive barrels and is killed in a massive explosion.The movie ends with Scott and Ronnie relaxing on their vacation at a Tahitian beach resort.

Tags: revenge, murder, violence

Review:
Metro appears to be a low-budget action affair, which whilst it has nothing new to offer, shows us a different side to Eddie Murphy as an actor that we hadn't seen before in his previous films.
People have in the past often compared this to Beverly Hills Cop 1, in terms of the fact that they are both your typical, run- of- the- mill cop movies, but the comparisons seem to come to an end when you compare that film to Metro, in terms of plot, character types and the fact that Eddie Murphy doesn't joke about as negotiator/cop Scott Roaper that often.
Metro plays out as a straight out action movie that isn't reliant on laughs, which in itself is no bad thing.
One of the main problems that some of the audiences had, in regards to their expectations of Metro, was by assuming that it would be something similar on the lines of Beverly Hills Cop. It has its funny moments, but these are few and far between throughout the film, as the narrative in Metro is very much serious and the standard cop thriller we'd come to expect.Overall, Metro is not a bad effort and the action sequences are well executed.
His character is a San Francisco hostage negotiator, named Scott Roper, who one day meets his worst enemy in a jewel thief (played wonderfully by Michael Wincott) who makes his job a nightmare.
"Metro" is a solid action film, with some suspense, some great stunts, and very good performances from the whole cast.
Those are really refreshing bits.Murphy's performance is quite solid, the story is what to expect from an action movie and refreshed, as I said, by the bits above..
Eddie Murphy plays a hostage negotiator in San Francisco, he lives a dangerous life, but he still thinks it´s pretty okay.
However, there are certain scenes, thrills and aspects - e.g. the ending predicament that are actually pretty good and will throw you.Eddie Murphy plays a 'wisecracking' hostage negotiator, although tbh he's very much the 'serious' Eddie Murphy for most of the film.
The female lead is a tad weak in this, and I must admit I've never ever heard of her (although I was 7 when this film came out - maybe she was big then) but she looked good - Carmen Ejogo she is.Michael Rapaport is in this as well, as an intelligent sniper who is paired up with Murphy.
The film could have been done without his character if they wanted to save whatever fee he commanded.Whoever plays Eddie Murphy and Carme Ejogo's dog is good in this though.
If you rent this movie thinking it is another Eddie Murphy action-comedy, you better think again!!!!
He's not playing Axel Foley from the BEVERLY HILLS COP movies, but he sure seems a lot like him.
And if so, at what cost?There has always seemed to me to be something of a negative bias towards post 1980s Eddie Murphy (Roper) films, it appears that no matter what, nothing that comes close to his best 80s efforts will ever be deemed worthy.
Now I'm not saying that Metro is a world beater, or even close to Beverly Hills Cop and Trading Places, but it's an accomplished thriller with classy bits of Murphy humour thrown in.
It also boasts splendid support from Michael Rapaport as Roper's intelligent partner McCall, both men playing off each other to good effect, while Michael Wincott with his gravel voice used to full effect, is impressively devilish as the bad guy of the piece.
Roper meanwhile is trying to juggle his job, his girlfriend and train a sniper to become a negotiator like him.This film was made before Nutty Porfessor but was held back because the makers realesed it was a bit of a dog by itself and decided to wait till Nutty Professor had made Murphy hot again before riding on that wave.
Wincott's villain is right out of a catalogue and is typical of the film's lack of initiative or spark.Overall, like most average cop thrillers it's worth a watch once because it is just about entertaining.
Wanting revenge for his partner's death, he's led on a dangerous cat-and-mouse game with Michael Wincott, who will not let him win easily...The main highlights of Metro are a thrilling car chase sequence and the explosive ending!
This is not the best film I have ever seen, but Wincott is immensely good as criminal Korda, displaying an almost never-ending desire to bring Roper down, even if it means double murder....Metro is a fast-paced thrilling (and funny) movie from start to finish containing many startling and cunning plots that may seem a little odd at first but smoothing out to a satisfactory conclusion.
Rapaport and Murphy work well together, and Wincott makes a good villain(as Alien: Resurrection will tell you, he makes an awesome bad guy, criminal type).
It doesn't always work, and Eddie Murphy is no substitute for a proper action star like Stallone or Mel Gibson, but at least he tries in this film.
The highlight of the film is the runaway tram scene, that is perfectly choreographed, and Michael Rapaport does a great job as Murphy's rookie partner.
Metro isn't really a movie that would make you feel you got your money's worth if you saw it at the cinema, because it doesn't have enough explosions but I just saw it on TV and the well-developed plot made it very satisfying.The street car scene is quite riveting although a bit unconvincing, with Murphy jumping back and forth from a moving car to the street car -- the criminal points a gun at him once he's made it to the street car but doesn't shoot him (even though he's just killed some other people in the car).
Of course the street car comes to a halt JUST before the street car comes to the end of its line, where it would have taken out a crowd of people who just scream, refusing to move -- so yeah unconvincing but fun.I believe this is one of Eddie Murphy's strongest performances ever but unfortunately he's in a movie that albeit very good, screams made-for-TV..
The scenario is kind of simple, Eddie's best friend got shot by some diamondthief and that of course asks for revenge...pretty stupid you say, perhaps but then you haven't counted the superb stunts (the scene with the tramway is great) and the brilliant villain that is played by Michael Wincott.
'Metro' has some of the best action sequences I have ever seen and that is why I enjoyed this movie so much.
Eddie Murphy isn't very funny in the film, but he is still good for the role and he does have his moments, but the real star is the action.
The 80's and 90's saw the momentous rise of beloved funnyman Eddie Murphy within the action comedy genre, particularly the wise cracking cop niche.
There's neat action set pieces including a showstopper set aboard a speeding trolley car, endearing bits of comedy now and then from Murphy and some savage violence that proclaims the film's hard R rating proudly.
Michael Rapaport, meanwhile, plays an unusually subdued and appealing role for him.As for that action, the best scene involved the runaway cable car.
A universe where Thomas Carter is Michael Bay, and Eddie Murphy was the star of movies just like Die Hard and The Fifth Element.
Eddie Murphy does a terrific act as Roper, a negotiator trying to deal with a sharp and malicious bad guy played by Micheal Wincott.
In 1997's crime thriller 'Metro,' Murphy plays a cop who is tasked with negotiating tough hostage situations in San Francisco.
Other than that the action scenes are pretty good and Murphy's character has chemistry with Carmen Ejogo's character(Veronica) as well as Rapaport's character.The film suffers from the odd cliché and the love interest story which is everywhere in films like this is a tad over the top but when it comes to the action and the chases and the classic formula stuff then this film doesn't have to hide in the shadows from the classics,all in all ,metro is a solid film that wont force you to burn your die hard films or anything like that but retains its interest levels for the most part.Overall rating: 7 out of 10..
Scott Roper (Eddie Murphy) is the best hostage negotiator in the San Francisco Police Department.
Scott wants revenge but Captain Frank Solis is keeping him out of the investigation.Eddie Murphy is playing a loud-mouth police detective except he's not wisecracking funny like Axel Foley.
I enjoyed Metro,, along with Michael Rapport as his sidekick,, they pack a good one , two punch,, have to love that line in the movie where Eddie thinks he get's the vehicle of his choice at the impound garage,, he's like this is my vehicle..
I couldn't stop laughing,,, Eddie Murphy plays a hostage negotiator in this one,, and his partner knows sign language which will come in handy later on in the movie,, fast paced lot's of action ,, and an evil villain for the cops to go up against,, what's not to like,, lot's of comedy and action...
San Francisco police inspector Eddie Murphy (as Scott Roper) is a brilliant hostage negotiator, which he proves in the opening minutes.
And, Thomas Carter and his crew give us some suspenseful action sequences.Metro (1/17/97) Thomas Carter ~ Eddie Murphy, Michael Wincott, Michael Rapaport, Carmen Ejogo.
And even though it was an Eddie Murphy vehicle from the Nineties, I enjoyed it far more than I should have."Metro" has an extremely basic story at it's centre: hostage negotiator Scott Roper (Murphy) incurs the wrath of jewel thief Michael Korda (Michael Wincott) who then proceeds to pursue Roper and his girlfriend (Carmen Ejogo) with murderous intent.
Throw in a clichéd car chase (well, it is set in San Fransisco) and a typically climatic face-off at the end and it's plain to see that "Metro" does nothing new for the action cop movie - something you'd expect Murphy to do, given that he plays action-cop-extraordinaire Axel Foley in the "Beverly Hills Cop" series.
But as a action film Metro is pretty decent: it has some good action, nasty villains and couple of hot chicks in it.So Murphy plays police negotiator Scott Roper, who gets into a tough situation when a jewel thief decides, that Roper is the sole cause of his ill fortuned heist.
Sorry "Beverly Hills Cop" rip-off stars Murphy as a hostage negotiator in this amazingly poor action-comedy.
In Metro Murphy plays a streetwise police negotiator in San Fransisco named Scott Roper, in fact the best negotiator on the force.
Unfortunately the stress of the job meant that Roper became introverted and shut out everything around him, including his girlfriend Ronnie who ultimately left him when he started gambling heavily as an outlet.Enter new partner Kevin McCall (Michael Rappaport), a young rookie straight from training who despite being highly skilled is raw and un-streetwise – if that were a word.Metro has two good scenes and one decent character.
The two good scenes are a long chase that takes place on the San Fransisco streets and uses their tram system to full advantage, the second such scene is a training montage that lasts maybe two minutes and allows Murphy the freedom to go a little wild by creating a made up criminal for McCall to negotiate with.The decent character I haven't touched on yet, but given that the film is about a hostage negotiator it seems fairly obvious that there need be someone for Roper to test his skills on.That someone is Michael Korda (Michael Wincott), a man with dark sunken eyes, the emaciated appearance of the undernourished and the gravelly voice of a chain smoker.
It is not the end of the world that the bad guy in a film is by far the best thing in it, but in an action comedy with not enough of either, where the bad guy in reality is the third or fourth banana it simply isn't good enough.The strength of Korda's characterisation and a fairly brutal development results in some genuine animosity between the pair, which makes the inevitable stand off near the end somewhat more bearable, even if it is laced with logic flaws and some mediocre action sequences.Ultimately Metro ended up only marginally better than A Vampire in Brooklyn, by trying to play against the 'typical' Eddie Murphy movie they managed to create a film only marginally different, but one lacking enough of anything to make it worthwhile.Final Rating – 5 / 10.
This is definitely not Eddie Murphy's best work, but it does keep you interested throughout the whole movie.
This film is compared to the action scenes of Eddie Murphy's "Beverly Hills Cop" films.
Since a long time, I have never seen Eddie Murphy act so tough, especially while he's in action.
Metro gives us a formula cop actioner which is considerably boosted by Eddie Murphy's solid screen presence coupled with the San Francisco locations.
If you're looking for laughs equal to "48 Hrs." or "Beverly Hills Cop," you won't find them here.All of that aside, Murphy DOES prove a more than adequate action hero here and the film has some great action sequences and some reasonably tense moments throughout.Not a classic, but worth a look on a slow night..
Eddie Murphy does a good job and has a decent supporting cast but 5 minutes into the movie I could see what the whole story was going to be and who was going to do it.
It proceeds to scrape along the sloping road, off its tracks, scraping metal, ramming into everything in its path.It reminded me of the car chase in "The Rock," another good action movie with a visibly larger budget but the same fun quotient as "Metro," which is "Beverly Hills Cop" meets "The Negotiator," for the most part.Action movies always have setups that pay nothing to the movie other than a character introduction.
Not in "Metro," which pays its respects to the other action movies such as "Beverly Hills Cop" that helped make Eddie Murphy what he is today.
a great eddie murphy movie, a throwback to 48 hrs and Beverly hills cop.
i am a fan of eddie murphy when he is in the right vehicle's like 'coming to America' 'the nutty professor' and 'Beverly hills cop' but sometimes he makes some very bad movies like 'pluto nash' 'boomerang' and 'meet dave'.
now metro is more like his older movies, raw, r rated action comedies, and its great, eddie murphy is very funny in this, and at times hes even quite serious, but the movie never loses its comedy, and at its core thats what this is, if i had to compare it to one eddie murphy film, it would have to be Beverly hills cop, the same sort of action and humour.
the cast are grear and the action big and loud, its a great movie and i recommend to fans of eddie murphy and action films..
Good Eddie Murphy movie.
(Spoiler)This movie is really good but before i watched it i thought that this movie would be crap and the funny Eddie Murphy from the great movie Beverly Hills Cop stars in this movie along side other good actors and actors like Michael Rapaport,Kim Miyori,Art Evans and Michael Wincott.There are heaps of great action scenes in this movie and the best one has to be the great car chase half way into the movie and the scenes in the end of the movie are great as well.Over all this movie is really good and it is worth watching and my rating is 6 out of 10..
Metro (1997): Dir: Thomas Carter / Cast: Eddie Murphy, Michael Rapaport, Michael Wincott, Carmen Ejogo, Art Evans: Absolute junk advertised as a comedy when it is really another dreary action film.
Continuing my plan to watch every Eddie Murphy movie in order, I come to Metro (1997)Plot In A Paragraph: Scott Roper a hostage negotiator for the San Francisco Police Department.Murphy gives a solid performance as Roper, I expected motor mouth, fast talking Murphy here, and I didn't get him.
The action scenes are cleverly directed and Eddie Murphy is back on his game again, Rapaport is always good and Wincott is a smart, creepy killer.
I'm also surprised to hear myself say this, but the casting of Eddie Murphy actually works here and he puts in a good, solid performance as the wisecracking negotiator who wins our hearts as the film progresses.
Although typecast as a comedian, Murphy passes nicely as an action movie hero and is supported by an above-average cast, including Michael Rapaport who plays his new partner.
However, acting honours must go to Michael Wincott, that gravelly-voiced villain who puts in a wonderful turn as the creepy bad guy here; however, he's pretty good in all of his movies.The couple of hostage scenes in this film are inventive and highly taut, and there's a great gruesome gag involving a severed ear.
Metro is set in San Francisco where Inspector Scott Roper (Eddie Murphy) works as a hostage negotiator, one night while questioning a suspect named Michael Korda (Michael Wincott) one of Roper's closest friends Lieutenant Sam Baffett (Art Evans) is brutally murdered.
The only other cast members to stand out are Michael Wincott as Korda the bad guy & he puts in an intense performance & British actress Carmen Ejogo who I thought was terrible.Metro is a throughly routine & predictable comedy cop action thriller the likes of which we have all seen before & usually better, it's not the worst of it's kind & several impressive set-piece action scenes help a lot but it's not up there with the best of it's kind.
I like Eddie and have yet to see a movie of his that was really bad.But at what point do we get better scripts and get away from standard plot arcs?