Metro

1997
R
1h 57m

IMDb RATING

5.6/10

30K

YOUR RATING

A Hostage Negotiator teams up with a Sharpshooter to bring down a dangerous jewel thief.

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Action Comedy Crime Drama Thriller

A Hostage Negotiator teams up with a Sharpshooter to bring down a dangerous jewel thief.A Hostage Negotiator teams up with a Sharpshooter to bring down a dangerous jewel thief.A Hostage Negotiator teams up with a Sharpshooter to bring down a dangerous jewel thief.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.6/10

30K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 nomination

Trivia
One of the reasons why Eddie Murphy choose to star in Metro is because he wanted to play a dramatic role in a more serious action picture than his previous films were. Even before he accepted the role in Metro, around early 1995 he was originally going to star in another action thriller titled Sandblast. The script for the film was written by screenwriter Steven Maeda in 1993 and he sold it to Joel Silver, famous producer of many action hits, and Warner Bros. for $750,000.

Described as both Die Hard and Cliffhanger in a desert sandstorm, the plot of Sandblast would have been very similar to the plot of John Woo's Broken Arrow (1996). It was to take place in the Iraq desert after the Gulf War, and Murphy would play the lead role of an ex-landmine expert and army specialist who has to help a group of US commandos stop a team of traitorous Green Berets from tracking down lost nuclear warheads which are somewhere in the desert wasteland, and while dealing with a huge sandstorm at the same time.

Once Murphy quit the project due to scheduling conflicts and then went on to star in Metro, Wesley Snipes was hired to play the main role and there were plans to hire Jean Claude Van Damme to play the main villain, but since Snipes' latest films weren't a success and Van Damme didn't want to play the villain, Warner Bros. cancelled the project in 1996 and it was never made.

Goofs
When Scott tells his superior that Kevin won't last two weeks his head is turned away from Kevin so there's no way that Kevin could have read his lips and known that he said that.

Quotes
[training McCall as a hostage negotiator]
Kevin McCall: I'm Officer McCall, I'm unarmed, just want to make sure everybody gets out of her safely.
Scott Roper: Okay, stop right there. Close your eyes.
Kevin McCall: Okay.
Scott Roper: Now tell me what you see.
Kevin McCall: [keeping his eyes closed] I see a scumbag behind the counter with a sawed-off, nine-millimeter tucked away in his waistband. There's a female hostage down in 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, trying to pass herself off as a hostage. And there's a special on toilet paper, four for $1.29. That's a lot of toilet paper. Am I right?
Scott Roper: That's pretty good, you got good eyes.
Kevin McCall: You like that?
Scott Roper: Very impressive.

Connections
Edited into Epicenter (2000)

Soundtracks
You Don't Have to Worry
Written by Sean 'Diddy' Combs (as Sean "Puffy" Combs), Chucky Thompson, Heavy D, Quinnes Dammond Parker (as Quinnes Parker), DaRon Jones, Slim (as Marvin Sandrick), Michael Marcel Keith (as Michael Keith) and Jadakiss (as Jason Phillips)
Performed by New Edition
Courtesy of MCA Records
By arrangement with Universal Music Special Markets

User reviews76

Review

Featured review

Standard cliché-ridden cop thriller

Fast talking police negotiator Scott Roper foils a bank robbery and catches the head thief. When the thief, Korda, escapes from jail, he comes after Roper. 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. Sadly I was one of those fooled into thinking that the hot new Murphy had made a cool cop thriller. Rather this is a by the numbers affair that has plenty of cliches and very little spark to it.

What spark there is, is added by Murphy's motor mouth performance he is funny and lively even when the film isn't. Rapaport is also good despite everything else and British born Ejogo is good as Murphy's girlfriend. 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. The problem is it is plain average. It never rises above the norm and there are much better cop thrillers out there than this. The producers and studio knew it who am I to argue.