Metro (1997)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Thomas Carter

Writer (WGA):

Randy Feldman (written by)

Release Date:

17 January 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

San Francisco's top police hostage negotiator is about to get more than he ever bargained for.

Plot:

Roper, a hostage negotiator catches a murderous bank robber after a blown heist. The bank robber escapes...

Plot Keywords:

Hostage | Chase | Revenge | Fire | Police

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Eddie Murphy	...	Insp. Scott Roper
Kim Miyori	...	Detective Kimura
Art Evans	...	Lt. Sam Baffett
James Carpenter	...	Officer Forbes
Michael Rapaport	...	Kevin McCall
Donal Logue	...	Earl
Jeni Chua	...	Debbie, Earl's Hostage
Dick Bright	...	Bank Manager
David Michael Silverman	...	SWAT Officer Jennings
Denis Arndt	...	Capt. Frank Solis
Frank Sommerville	...	Reporter
Malou Nubla	...	Reporter
Carmen Ejogo	...	Veronica 'Ronnie' Tate
Nino Degennaro	...	Repoman
Michael Wincott	...	Michael Korda

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence and language.

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:M (TV rating) | South Korea:15 | Philippines:R-18 | Netherlands:12 (TV version) | Australia:MA | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Germany:16 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:NC-16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Albany, California, USA

Company:

Touchstone Pictures

Trivia:

The final scene was filmed at Mare Island Naval Base in Vallejo, California one year after the naval base had closed down.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Near the end of the film, Kevin McCall squeezes off three rounds at the speeding car in a quick, semi-automatic fashion with his sniper rifle. The SWAT standard issue M24 SWS is a bolt-action rifle which requires the shooter to manually chamber each round.

Quotes:

Scott Roper: Okay, stop right there. Close your eyes.
Kevin McCall: Okay.
Scott Roper: Tell me what you see.
Kevin McCall: I see a scumbag behind the counter with a sawed-off. Nine-millimetre tucked away in his waistband. There's a female hostage downin front of the cereal rack... with a red polka-dot dress. Another hostage three feet to her right, with blue jeans and a checkered shirt. A male hostage down, green shirt, white pants, in front of the candy rack. There's a female scumbag behind me with a gun tucked away in her shirt...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Bowfinger (1999)

Soundtrack:

YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY

Solid action movie

Perhaps the biggest problem in Eddie Murphy's career always was, that people expected him to be a fast talking guy whose mouth gets him in and out of trouble. As soon as he tried to escape that formula, viewers were in for a disappointment and found his movies below than average.

If you leave that behind, "Metro" is a solid action movie with a couple of remarkable stunt scenes. It's also very delightful to see that it tries to leave some of the usual "veteran cop gets rookie partner" routine behind and playfully mocks some standard suspense elements: you see a young girl in front of her opened bathroom mirror searching for something. The music swells. She starts to close it and what does the viewer expect? To see the face of the killer when the mirror closes. But nada. 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.