The 51st State (2001)

Director:

Ronny Yu

Writer (WGA):

Stel Pavlou (written by)

Release Date:

18 October 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

Nice Wheels. Dirty Deals. And One Mean Mother In A Kilt.

Plot:

An American master chemist plans to score big on a once in a lifetime drug deal. All does not go as planned and he is soon entangled in a web of deceit.

Plot Keywords:

American Abroad | Mini Cooper | American In The Uk | Drugs | Racial Slur

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Samuel L. Jackson	...	Elmo McElroy
Nigel Whitmey	...	L.A. Highway Patrol
Robert Jezek	...	Priest
Emily Mortimer	...	Dakota Parker
Meat Loaf	...	The Lizard (as Meatloaf)
Jake Abraham	...	Konokko
Mac McDonald	...	Mr. Davidson
Aaron Swartz	...	Mr. Yuri
David Webber	...	Mr. Jones
Michael J. Reynolds	...	Mr. Escobar
Sonny Muslim	...	Boy in Plane
Barbara Barnes	...	Boy's Mother
Junix Inocian	...	Mr. Ho-Fat
Robert Carlyle	...	Felix DeSouza
Paul Barber	...	Frederick

Also Known As:

Formula 51 (USA)
Formule 51 (Canada: French title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, language, drug content and some sexuality.

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

UK | Canada

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (DeLuxe)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | SDDS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

New Zealand:R18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Canada:18A | Finland:K-15 (re-rating) | Finland:K-18 (original rating) | Germany:16 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | Singapore:NC-16 (original rating) | Singapore:M18 (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK

Company:

Alliance Atlantis Communications

Goofs:

Continuity: At the start of the chase when McElroy and DeSuza get in to the red Jaguar and turn round, you can clearly see damage to the front headlight and bodywork before the car has even bumped in to anything.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Elmo: I mean, rules are like, arbitrary, you know. Made up for people who believe in fairy tales like, you know, like Santa Claus. Hey, but not us, right? I mean, we know what's important. There's a war going on, man. A war. Ain't that a bitch?
[cop sucks his teeth]
Elmo: I just graduated today, man. With honors. Got my degree in pharmacology. I'm licensed. Look, if you write me up on this drug charge, I won't be able to practice. So what we're talking about here is, is my life. The rest of it.
[cop lights joint, takes one hit, then discards it]
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in "HBO First Look: Formula 51 (#9.16)" (2002)

Soundtrack:

I Don't Know Why

Dreadful 'B' movie written by local lad working in an offy

I was particularly interested in seeing this film, since it was written by someone who a friend of mine knows; written whilst he was working in an off-licence in my old home town. I have been following its progress for some 5 years now, since I heard that he'd sent the script off to Tim Roth and that Tim Roth had rung him back late one night, much to his surprise. The script was then passed on to Samual L Jackson who produced and starred in it. So I went to see it last night... The film was quite frankly appalling. Maybe the script was better that the film made out, maybe not; it was hard to tell in amongst the awful "oh here we go again, doesn't work outside Asia" Hong-Kong slow-motion(tm) film direction. The acting talent available should have made this a much better film, if you exclude the female hitman, which I guess points to the fact that the film making and the script were more than likely to blame. Gratuitous bad language is funny in the hands of intelligence. Think Derek and Clive when Peter Cook uses more swear-words per minute on one comedy record than anyone else before or since. Yet they are funny, since they are used in an intelligent, clever, witty fashion. The use of bad language here was just simply there because the writer thought that using the 'Fredrick' and 'Celery' words alone was somehow 'funny'. It's not. You become insensed to it and then annoyed. I actually walked out 10 minutes from the end as the film descended into a downward spiral of crapness as Samual's character gave away his new found drugs to 'the kids'. The film was a pseudo-Tarantino pastiche of every other gangster film you can name. Almost in the same way that the Scream franchise drew on Craven's earlier horror schlock flicks, only not as intelligently done. Unlike Taratino, who at least provided clever and amusing dialog for his first couple of films (including the much underrated From Dusk Til Dawn), this script fails single-handedly to deliver any sort of originality, even going to the extent of using a Tarantino mandatory in the form of Jackson, to give the film some kudos. I cannot recommend this film and have not walked out of a movie for years... which is a shame, since I'd have liked it to have been good, since the humble beginnings of this film are somewhat fairytale. I fear that Stel P's career will dry up very quickly if this is all he has to offer.

A 'B' movie in wolf's clothing. A wolf that has been shot.