I don’t know why a talented guy like Eddie Murphy just can’t get it together. The man has a knack for both adventure (remember Beverly Hills Cop?) and for comedy (uh, do I even have to name anything here?).

But he has not lived up to his full potential after, I’d say, Boomerang, and that flick just didn’t satisfy my whirlwind, edge-of-my-seat adventure cravings. Anytime now, Mr. Murphy should be hitting the big screen with a major action movie, and unfortunately, it’s not in the form of Metro.

Not that I can find anything wrong with Murphy’s performance. He plays the part of Inspector Scott Roper, a hostage negotiator, quite well — that is, with a lot of snap and charisma. But he’s just not doing anything new.

Metro plays like a bad episode of “Hunter.” You know, sassy cop has it all on the ball when it comes to his job, but then his partner gets hurt-slash-killed, and he sets out to get the murderer.

Throw in a completely tagged-on love interest (played pretty well by Carmen Ejogo), and you can guess that she ends tangled up in the cat-and-mouse game between the good and bad guys. Argh!

I will grant the makers of this movie that the car chase scene, which involved a Ford Explorer, a tail-finned convertible and a street car, all racing up and down San Francisco’s steepest hills, is a remarkable piece of action wizardry.

Even with spectacular camera work and some decent suspense worked into key scenes, though, Metro doesn’t rise above the pack.

I thought this movie might play out a little differently with the addition of the talented and cool Michael Rapaport (Higher Learning) in the mix; he plays Roper’s new partner Kevin. But I was horrified to find that Rapaport’s part is minuscule — the villain gets more screen time. Makes me wonder why they hype him up so much in the previews.

Speaking of previews, I was pumped to see a couple of promising offerings before Metro popped on the screen — they ended up salvaging the $5 ticket. The first stars John Cusack, Dan Akroyd and Jeremy Piven (PCU, “Ellen”), where Cusack plays a hit man who is set for his 10-year class reunion. “What do I tell them I do for a living?” he wonders aloud.

The movie’s called Grosse Point Blank, and even had Violent Femmes and Vanilla Ice as background music.

Also, Wesley Snipes will be pouncing back with an action-mystery-type deal in Murder at 1600.

I hope Eddie Murphy goes to see this Snipes flick. Maybe he’ll pick up some pointers about extraordinary plot lines and put the ideas to good use in his own films.