Metro (1997 film)

Metro
Metro movie poster
Directed by	Thomas Carter
Produced by	Roger Birnbaum
Written by	Randy Feldman
Starring	Eddie Murphy Michael Wincott Donal Logue Michael Rapaport Carmen Ejogo Denis Arndt
Music by	Steve Porcaro
Cinematography	Fred Murphy
Editing by	Peter E. Berger John Wright
Studio	Caravan Pictures
Distributed by	Touchstone Pictures
Release date(s)	January 17, 1997
Running time	117 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$55,000,000 (estimated)
Box office	$31,987,563 (USA)

Metro is a 1997 action/suspense film directed by Thomas Carter and starring Eddie Murphy and Michael Wincott. Murphy plays a hostage negotiator in San Francisco. He seeks revenge when his best friend is murdered by an escaped jewel-thief (Wincott).

Plot

Scott Roper (Eddie Murphy) is the best hostage negotiator in San Francisco. His girlfriend Veronica "Ronnie" Tate (Carmen Ejogo) is a newspaper reporter. Scott and Veronica have a dog named Troy.

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 (non-fatally) shooting Earl.

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 killing Sam. When Scott hears a woman in the building scream at the sight of Sam's body, Scott runs inside the building and sees the body.

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 go to a horse race track, where they win a bundle of money, then they 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 leaves the hostage behind when he gets out of the truck.

Korda then 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 get back at Scott. Teal shows up at Ronnie's apartment that night and attacks Ronnie. Scott arrives and chases Teal down the fire escape, and Teal is hit and killed by a car. 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 if Scott doesn't follow his instructions. While all of this is going on, McCall is outside with his sniper rifle watching the action. Korda orders Scott to hold onto the pause-control button for the cutting machine Ronnie is pinned to. If he lets go, the machine would decapitate Ronnie. Korda walks away and comes back in his vehicle, prepared to run Scott over. However, McCall shoots Korda, Korda's car swerves, misses Scott, and crashes. Korda survives, but is badly burned. Scott releases Ronnie from the turntable. Next, Korda tries to make his getaway but confronts McCall in the process. They shoot at each other, and Korda shoots McCall, who survives but is immobilized. Korda attempts to escape in Scott's truck, Scott jumps aboard, and, after a brief struggle for control of the moving vehicle, the truck is heading for a stack of explosive barrels. Scott jumps out of the way just seconds before Korda rams into the barrels. The truck bursts into flames, a spectacular explosion killing Korda beyond any possible doubt.

The movie ends with Scott and Ronnie relaxing on their vacation at a Tahitian beach resort.

External links

• Metro at the Internet Movie Database
• Metro at Rotten Tomatoes