Film Review - Metro

From the opening scenes of the vast city scape of San Fransico zooming to Murphy driving a flashy convertible with the radio on and with his usual characteristic wit shouting his race horse home and the ‘bitch’ losing the race you could be forgiven for mistaking this as the start of another Beverly Hills Cop film.

But as the story progresses the script steers from the Beverly Hills formula and takes it’s viewers on a different but still entertaining ride.

Eddie Murphy plays the part of Scott Roper, a top hostage negotiator who enjoys as much gambling at the track as he does with his life every time he enters a hostage situation.

Roper gets assigned a new partner (Michael Rapaport) and you’d expect the usual animosity and conflict that is common in buddy cop flicks but thankfully it doesn’t waste any time going down this well worn track.

The stereotyped bad-guy Michael Wincott plays his part convincingly as Roper’s twisted calculating adversary.

It’s not all action, there’s the love interest angle with Roper trying to win back the heart of his ex-girlfriend Ronnie (Jeni Chua) with the trademark charm and humour. The movie isn’t driven by comedy but the lines used are first class.

The plot involves a cat and mouse game of Roper wanting revenge on his friends murderer. The action involves guns, a tram chase and the obligatory earth shaking explosion.

To summarize: It’s a suspenseful action with a dash of comedy and a touch of romance. Eddie Murphy fans will love it and for anyone else it’s not a complete waste of a couple of bucks from the weekly rental section.