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On Sky Movies Action/Thriller 09/12/09 14:05

Director: Thomas Carter

Stars: Eddie Murphy, Michael Rapaport, Michael Wincott, Carmen Ejogo

Year: 1997 Running Time: 117 mins Rating:

A wisecracking police hostage negotiator (Eddie Murphy) and his hot-shot young partner try to bring a murderous jewellery thief (Wincott) to justice. A rare straight role for the motormouthed Murphy with the bonus of some first class action setpieces. Trivia: the San Francisco cable car scene was faked on adjacent streets with the "rails" painted onto the road.

Review

Eddie Murphy excels here with a straight role in a violent police action thriller.

The dialogue's a bit ordinary and the leading lady (Britain's Carmen Ejogo) painfully weak.

However, there are three or four world-class action sequences, including a sensational five-minute pursuit, ultimately involving a runaway San Francisco cable-car - and the plot has a viciously sardonic villain in Michael Wincott.

A pity the film's allowed to drift on for several minutes after the action has come to a close, but that's typical of its stop-go structure.

Really just a canter for Murphy, this, although his hostage negotiator does give Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry a run for his money as Mr Cool when dealing with crazed gunmen.