Themes: Cons and Scams, Drug Trade, Americans Abroad
Main Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Carlyle, Emily Mortimer, Rhys Ifans, Meat Loaf
Release Year: 2002
Country: CA/UK
Run Time: 93 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
First-time screenwriter Stelios Pavlou enjoyed a major success with this script that he wrote while working in an English liquor store by sending it to actor Samuel L. Jackson, who signed on for one of the lead roles. Jackson is Elmo McElroy, a kilt-wearing, golf club-wielding Los Angeles native who has invented an illegal drug formula that he hopes will provide him with a last major score of 20 million dollars before he retires from a life of crime. He travels to Liverpool, England, where he hopes to find a buyer for his creation among the denizens of the city's rave scene, but his plans go awry when those who are in on the deal start turning up dead. Elmo's only protector is a chain-smoking, Yank-hating local hood named Felix De Souza (Robert Carlyle), who reluctantly partners with the violence-prone American to finish the deal and cash in, sparking a gang war between Elmo's vengeful one-time employer, The Lizard (Meat Loaf); Felix's boss, Durant (Ricky Tomlinson); crooked cop Virgil Kane (Sean Pertwee); a beautiful assassin, who also happens to be Felix's ex-girlfriend (Emily Mortimer); and an offbeat, yoga-practicing nightclub owner and mobster named Iki (Rhys Ifans). For its U.S. release, the title of The 51st State was changed to Formula 51. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Review
It's ironic that The 51st State changed its title to Formula 51 for its U.S. release, given that the United States is the only country where "the 51st state" is actually a geographical pun. The title change is the last of many colossal mistakes -- far more than 51 -- that make Formula 51 one of the most excruciating post-Tarantino films out there. Starting with Samuel L. Jackson as a kilt-wearing chemist carrying a bag of nine irons, Stelios Pavlou's script pathologically assigns a quirk, "funny accessory," or nickname to every character, not to mention endowing them all with a hair-trigger instability that might explode into violence. Is this what Quentin Tarantino had in mind when he penned Reservoir Dogs? Taking into consideration the London setting, director Ronny Yu also seems influenced by the films of Guy Ritchie, but these coattails become frayed and worn long ago as well. It's hard to be style over substance when there's none of either, and when you can't even get a clean film stock. Formula 51 centers on an ecstasy-style super drug, so the desperate viewer hopes for some exploration of what this drug is all about, as a break from the criminal posturing. What the film offers instead is a bunch more red herrings and a bunch more noise. Compelling actors like Jackson, Robert Carlyle, Emily Mortimer, and Rhys Ifans all look sorry and confused. Maybe they hoped that instead of sitting on the distributor's shelf for a year before its stateside release, this 51 would just get 86ed altogether. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
