Movie #119 - Metro

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

This movie was a bomb at the box office and is definitely not a good representation of Murphy's overall body of work. In his career, Eddie Murphy has made a number of bad movie projects, Metro is one of those films. Although I have not seen his most recent box office disaster, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, critics and fans alike have made that decision for me. However, I'll stick to reviewing this film, for I know Murphy at least deserves to be slaughtered for each film individually.

With Metro, the movie is way too long with too many slow spots in between. As shown by the trailer below, it was originally marketed as a comedic action film, similar to the Beverly Hills Cop franchise or even the Lethal Weapon franchise. However, this movie falls flat, from cast members to production quality - showing the level of expertise Murphy has had in choosing some of his major roles.

Metro was supposed to be one of those films that allowed Murphy to jump back and forth from goofy, comedic roles, to action-packed summer blockbusters. Instead, many blamed Metro for fans to forget the box office success of The Nutty Professor from 1996, and recall the disastrous films such as Vampire in Brooklyn and Beverly Hills Cop III shortly before and Holy Man, Life, and Bowfinger shortly afterwards.

Overall, if you cut out the crappy films, Murphy's career is filled with gems such as the Beverly Hills cop franchise sans #3, his voice over work with Mulan and the Shrek franchise, and his more recent work like Dreamgirls. However, everything always comes back to Pluto Nash, which is Murphy's version of Waterworld, the film that will forever follow Kevin Costner.

Unfortunately for Murphy, this film sees better acting from both Michael Wincott as the villain and Michael Rapaport as his rookie cop partner. However, as previously mentioned, this movie drags on and the violent, action scenes are misplaced throughout the duration of this film.

If you take my advice, do not see Metro as it falls in line with some of the poor decisions Murphy made in the mid-90's. If you want to see some stellar work, go through Murphy's earlier stuff or seek out episodes of his time on Saturday Night Live or even his stand-up work. I actually hope that he goes back to doing that, because he ranks up there in terms of delivery and quality of jokes. Maybe in the latter part of his career, he'll dust off the microphone, but I think he desperately wants to win his Oscar first... maybe a sequel to Pluto Nash just might be in order.

Just kidding!

Movie #39 - Beverly Hills Cop II

"The Heat's Back On!"

A pretty cheesy tagline if you ask me. However, much better than the first movie... although the whole franchise does not rank in any Top 10 list trilogies out there. These movies are strictly fun films to enjoy, especially if you are a fan of the 80's. And, like The Godfather trilogy, many tend to forget that they even made Beverly Hills Cop III - many years later and way beyond its shelf life.

Eddie Murphy (Axle Foley) is at it again, returning to Beverly Hills to help Judge Reinhold and John Ashton (Det. Rosewood and Det. Taggert) to solve a set of alphabet crimes. What makes this film interesting is the casting of Brigitte Nielsen, who at the time was one of the hottest women in Hollywood - recently married to Sylvester Stallone, cast in a number of action flicks as the leading lady - you get the picture. I still liked her better in Rocky IV, but that's another blog entry entirely.

Jurgen Prochnow (Maxwell Dent) plays the villain in this movie... a far cry from his Jesus Christ casting in The Seventh Sign. And once again, we have some brief cameos of Paul Reiser, attempting to be funny as Murphy's mischievous sidekick from Detroit - like anyone would believe Reiser was from Detroit - yeah right, has anyone seen an episode of Mad About You?

Anyhow... the movie is much better than the first film, mainly because many of the jokes and plot twists are expected and the relationships are already established. In terms of movie accomplishments, this is definitely Judge Reinhold's best film ever... however, many would argue that either Zandalee or Fast Times at Ridgemont High were better films for him. I beg to differ.

Movie #12 - Rush Hour 2

I still don't get sick of seeing Jackie Chan stunts. They are so well choreographed and he has such skill and finesse to his movements. What makes this film set funny (Rush Hour 1-3) is the fact that they teamed up Chan with Chris Tucker.

Every time Tucker is on screen, you cannot help but laugh with his character. What makes it funnier, is that it almost seems effortless. Tucker was being groomed as being the "next" Eddie Murphy. However, with some of his movie appearances and starring roles, he ranks up there with Murphy.

Although I was never a big fan of Tucker's stand up work as compared to the likes of Carlin, Pryor, Murphy, Peters or Chappelle, Tucker's on-screen persona really does get some laughs.

For example, early in his career, Tucker made some candid appearances on TSN's Off the Record with Michael Landsberg. Let's just say, he stole the show during all of those appearances that audiences were begging him to return time and time again.

The outtakes of the Rush Hour movies rank up there with other comedic movies. Tucker and Chans blunders are both hilarious and in some cases for Chan, quite painful.

Back to the movie. Chan and Tucker have great on-screen chemistry. Mainly because Tucker loves to be the spotlight and Chan is a genuine type of person both on and off the big screen. The action sequences are quite predictable... many kicks, blocks, and evasive maneuvers, but it seems to work throughout this film and others in this set.

The additions of Ziyi Zhang (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and Roselyn Sanchez (Without a Trace) are what make this movie better than the first one and probably better than the second one. My wife and I missed out on Rush Hour 3 only because after 6 years since #2, it seemed more like a money grab.

Both Zhang and Sanchez steal the show during their time on screen. Both women are quite beautiful and it only makes a silly movie like this one worth watching.