Metro (1997) A movie review by Serdar Yegulalp Copyright 1997 by Serdar Yegulalp
CAPSULE: Better-than-average actioner with Eddie Murphy *not* doing a reprise of Axel Foley. Still doesn't quite leave the ground, though.
Eddie Murphy isn't exactly breaking new ground with METRO, an action picture in which he plays a fast-moving police negotiator, but he does make the movie an enjoyable experience. He is several megawatts less cranky than the shrill and unpleasant Axel Foley, for starters.
Murphy's character lives and works in San Francisco. He knows his job well, and doesn't believe that everyone he negotiates with deserves a SWAT bullet through the head. But if it comes to that... well, that may be part of the reason he goes to the racetrack and bets like crazy. He's a weird cross between Can-Do Man and a walking deathwish. He does have a ladyfriend, and the time they have on screen is engaging and funny (and judging from the repartee, mostly unscripted).
Murphy runs afoul of a very nasty and cold-blooded diamond thief (played with torrents of venom and grease by Michael Wincott), and quickly earns himself an enemy. In a remarkable scene, Wincott takes over a posh jewelers', and Murphy goes to talk him down. The two of them engage in a fencing match of wits that's almost worth seeing the movie for -- and then erupts into an incredibly violent and drawn-out chase that tears across most of San Francisco. Both characters taunt each other savagely in scenes that feel like they come from another movie, they're so ugly and angry.
The movie's schizophrenia is subtle, but it's there. On the one hand, there are the *really* smart touches, like the way the whole hostage scene is built, or the aforementioned mental cruelty between the two leads. On the other hand, there are a gutload of criminally manipulative moments, like the one where Murphy's ladyfriend is being stalked by bad theme music. Taken as a whole, METRO's relatively entertaining, but anyone who picks too hard at the movie is going to be disappointed. It's another disposable stop on the trolley car of Murphy's career.
Two and a half out of four laser scopes.
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