The 51st State

Plot synopsis:
In 1971, a policeman catches Elmo McElroy, a recent college graduate with a degree in pharmacology, smoking marijuana. Because of his arrest and conviction, he is unable to find work as a pharmacologist. In the present day, a drug lord called "the Lizard" calls a meeting of his organisation, hoping to sell a brand new substance invented by Elmo. The meeting goes badly when Elmo, in a bid to escape from the Lizard's control, blows up the building, killing everyone but the Lizard. Vengeful, the Lizard contacts Dakota, a contract killer, who previously killed the only witness in a case against the Lizard. Dakota initially refuses the hit, but accepts when the Lizard offers to clear her gambling debts and give her a $250,000 bonus.
Elmo leaves for Liverpool, England, where he meets Felix DeSouza, a local "fixer" who has been sent by Leopold Durant, head of a local criminal organisation, in exchange for two football tickets to a sold-out game. At the meeting, Elmo pitches POS 51, a synthetic drug that can be produced with minimal facilities and is 51 times as potent as other drugs. A second opinion from Pudsey, Durant's chemist, confirms Elmo's claims, and Durant gives him over a million dollars in bonds. Since it is $18 million short of the agreed payment, Elmo threatens to leave.
In a room across the street, Dakota is about to take a shot at Elmo's head when the Lizard calls cancelling the hit; not wanting to kill Elmo until he has the formula. Instead of killing Elmo, she is to kill anyone who meets with him. She switches rifles to an automatic weapon and kills everyone but Elmo and Felix, who is shot in the buttocks. As Elmo and Felix leave the hotel, a gang of skinheads who seek the drug attack them. Elmo protects them with a golf club. Detective Virgil Kane arrives on the scene and gives a chase. He is soon lured into a game of chicken by Elmo, who escapes. Kane returns to the crime scene and demands 50% of Durant's deal with McElroy. A miscommunication leads to Durant's death.
Felix contacts a gun dealing club owner and drug distributor named Iki, promising him the formula for £20 million. As Elmo and Felix acquire the ingredients necessary for the drug's manufacture, all of which are over-the-counter products, the now-armed skinheads capture them. Elmo is unflustered, as the skinheads claim they have a lab, though it turns out to be a broken-into animal testing facility. Elmo makes two batches of the drug; one blue and one red. He claims that the red pill is the stronger version, and after he takes one, the skinheads try it. While they are partying, waiting for the effect of the drug, in the next room Elmo spits out his red pill. He tells Felix it is a powerful laxative; Elmo and Felix leave after throwing rolls of toilet paper to the incapacitated skinheads.
At Iki's rave club, Elmo initiates his deal and delivers the drug to the waiting crowd. Kane and the police interrupt the deal and arrest Felix. When Dakota appears, she reveals that her real name is Dawn and that she and Felix were romantically involved. She captures Elmo and leaves with him via the roof. Elmo gets the upper hand, suspending her over the edge of the roof. Having no choice, she strikes a deal with him and they escape from Kane. Meanwhile, Kane blackmails Felix during a police interrogation and forces himself into the deal with Iki, which Felix sets up for him.
Felix, Elmo and Dawn meet Iki in a private viewing box at the football game at Anfield. This time, the deal is interrupted by the Lizard, who shoots Iki and demands the formula to POS 51. The Lizard celebrates with a drink, as Elmo reveals that the drug is a placebo and POS stands for Power of Suggestion. Kane interrupts them as Elmo's cocktail, an explosive ingested by the Lizard, takes effect. Kane is knocked unconscious and arrested, and the others escape. Dawn and Felix give their relationship another chance, and Elmo purchases a castle once owned by the man who owned his ancestors.

Tags: violence, humor, comedy, murder, flashback

Review:
Be warned though if you don't like swearing in your films this isn't the one for you as just about every line contains more than one obscenity.The film stars Samuel L Jackson as an ultra-cool, kilt wearing drugs chemist wanting to make one high-profit deal, Robert Carlyle as a Liverpool gangster and Emily Mortimer as the hottest assassin I've seen in a film.I won't post any spoilers but if you enjoy films with car chases, funny dialogue and over the top action involving guns, golf clubs and heavy duty laxatives then this is the film for you..
Jackson is as cool as ever as kilt-wearin', drug-dealin' Elmo McElroy, and Robert Carlyle is in good form as Felix DeSouza, desperately trying to get himself a cut in the deal.
Jackson, Robert Carlyle,  Meatloaf, Rhys Ifans, and Emily Mortimer together in a movie?
The soundtrack is excellent (this coming from someone who  doesn't really like techno, club, rap, or hip-hop music), and I would  definitely buy this movie to watch again.
OK, so the `what' British film industry needs another gangster-flick about as much as Zsa-Zsa Gabor needs another facelift, but this film is worth a look just for the fact that it's not set in London (hurrah!), it's very funny and it features Samuel L.
With film, as with any other entertainment medium, it ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it.Moaning about the dodgy' accents or the depiction of Liverpool as a haven for drug dealers and corrupt policemen is pointless nit-picking and should not detract from the fact that 51st State is a lively, refreshing and ultimately entertaining two hours worth of celluloid.
Fun if you are in the mood and know what to expect - Jackson is key in making it stand out from the many other modern British gangster films.
Meanwhile Elmo and Felix combine to try and sell the drugs.Yet another in the treadmill of British bandwagon filmmaking, this film is, surprise surprise, a comedy British gangster movie with, wait for it, larger than life characters, funny violence and hyper-kinetic directing and editing.
How very Lock Stock - things look pretty bleak from this description, except that the cast at least offers the hope that sufficient money has been poured into it to make it more than just another cheap cash-in on the success of Guy Ritchie's films.
The story is nonsense throughout and at times I found it a little irritating that so little attention was paid to the plot - but in fairness, to make a big deal out of that is to miss the point.This is because the film is all about style, humour and pace and not about character or plotting.
What makes the film stand out from the rest of the copies is that it actually is quite good fun to watch (as opposed to some copies that are just cheap and nasty) - never hilarious but it is energetic enough to pull you along with it no matter how silly it gets.
Carlyle is a good actor but he pales in comparison to Jackson in this - he isn't helped by the awful accent he is lumbered with and the fact that he is a little irritating.
The support cast includes reasonable turns from Pertwee, Ifans, Tomlinson and Barber but this is Jackson's film 100% and it is difficult to imagine it being as enjoyable without him.Overall, we all know what to expect - this is yet another gangster film in the mould of Lock Stock.
The cast includes quite a few well-known faces but it is the awesome presence of Jackson (who looks like he is enjoying himself in an undemanding role) that makes this worth seeing..
Meanwhile , a gun-toting motorcycle-riding hit woman pursues to kill him and she happens to be Felix's ex .This exciting as well as wild picture is loaded with noisy action , irony , slapdash , comedy with tongue-in-cheek , bad taste jokes , rapid flash thrilling choreography , funny situations and with a distinctly British sense of humor .
The fast drawn shots keep the pace, the thunderous soundtrack imports the ambiance, and the British ghetto lingo always reels you in to the lovely slums of Liverpool.Bottom Line: Better Title 'An American Drug Dealer in Liverpool'.
At times, he is just downright aggravating to watch (especially when he starts ranting and referring to himself in the third-person).Fortunately, Meat Loaf (and a nearly as annoying Rhys Ifans)are not enough to completely drag the film down.
The script found the film with it's first fault when it was clear that during the writing process things like a flowing, rich and intelligent script were replaced by excessive overly 'Cool' dialogue, the f word and a narrative which shamelessly places the characters in situations with the sole purpose of them showing how witty (in a dialogue sense) they can be.
And yes, I will admit, at times it works and you do enjoy some of this but it is overall tedious and relies far to heavy on this to make this film.On the acting front I noticed pretty quickly how the actors saw their characters were written and just played with it (with the exception of Sam L Jackson who seemed to kick into auto pilot and let his cool persona shine through on his part).
The only saving grace is that Robert Carlyle does what he's good at doing, playing an up tight anti hero with a certain amount of humor and in all fairness he jells well with Samuel L Jackson who also effectively portrays what he is supposed to do.
The movie has an good supporting cast like Sean Pertwee, Rhys Ifans and Meat Loaf.
This film was a Box Office Flop but it worth a look for fans of the stars or you are in the mood for wild, tongue in cheek, Hong Kong style action/comedy.
Very few action movies actually succeed in being funny, but the witty screenplay of the 51st State will have you laughing throughout the entire film.
Sam Jackson proves himself as the coolest man on the planet as he struts across the screen wearing a kilt and acting like a samurai warrior with a golf club instead of a sword.
The direction of the film is flashy and seems drawn towards capturing as many Liverpool land marks as possible, but never escapes the style Guy Ritchie pioneered in Lock, Stock and Snatch, which indeed for some viewers may be a good thing.
The best part of this film is watching the club scenes with the techno rave music which are money and the chemistry between Felix and Dakota they light up the screen.
This movie was excellent.Elmo (Samuel L.) is a chemist who travels to Britain to market a new drug, meeting Felix DeSouza (Robert Carlyle) and Dakota (Emily Mortimer) in his adventures.I'd seen Emily Mortimer in The Kid, but that hadn't prepared me for what an excellent actor she is.
Samuel L is a cool mofo as usual, playing a genius with an interesting line of work.The plot was interesting, the one liners hilarious and the action entertaining, and with some smaller roles played by Rhys Ifans and Meatloaf, I can't fault this movie at all..
The 51st State (a.k.a. Formula 51) (2001) is a highly underrated film made by Ronnie Yu. The movie takes place in the U.S. and in Britain.
Samuel L Jackson gave yet another superb performance as Elmo, and Robert Carlyle as his unlikely sidekick was great.
I would be interested to know how the American's took the humour, I am not sure if some of the references would have been lost on them, such as the fact that Robert Carlyle walked into a Manchester pub wearing a Liverpool shirt on the day before the big match!
Samuel Jackson plays a chemist who comes to Liverpool to attempt to sell the formula for a new designer drug he's concocted.
You can see why Jackson took an interest; after all, its not EVERY script that casts him as a kilt-wearing master chemist by the wonderful name of Elmo McElroy, who comes to Liverpool to hawk his new drug around the streets.
This is probably unintended since its written by a Brit, but the way the British are portrayed in the 51st State isn't very much different as to how the Irish were portrayed in Far and Away.Sam Jackson and especially Robert Carlyle should have known better.
Carlyle recently announced this would be the last big movie he would do for a while, and Jackson failed to turn up at its Liverpool premiere.
There are people like this walking around Liverpool every day.Humour runs all through this film; from Samuel L's stick-on fuzzy mustache at the start, through to cross-dressing psychotic drug-dealers, to somebody getting a 25' container accidentally dropped on them.
A visual style like a video game and Samuel L.Jackson and Robert Carlyle trading their best "hard as ^&%#* nails" attitudes, the sharp stoner fantasy script by first timer Stel Pavlou, giddies it up with its depiction of the ultimate party drug being hustled by the hardest of the hard cores in the midst of some of the trigger-happiest criminals on both sides of the atlantic.
The 51st state was an excellent film with comedy, action and a bit of those 'gone in 60 seconds' type movies.
On DVD as "Formula 51", this action comedy is all about Jackson as a kilt-wearing macho man with the formula for a new designer drug with beyond belief market potential who's trying to sell it for a cool $20 million.
I liked this film - it's a funny combination of US action comedy with British gangster film.
There are more reasons for satisfaction in this film, like the good acting of Samuel Jackson and Robert Carlyle, Emily Mortimer - so sexy that the next Bond girls auditions should have a look at her, and the English slang and football (the real one!) humor.
Action, great actors, bad food, a good script, gross humor, sex and violence.
really everything you would like in a great movie about a couple of gangsters in Liverpool.
superb film Robert Carlyle on top form as Felix - mucking up as is usual with his characters.
A great Brit flick and one I would highly recommend to anyone looking for a film that appeals to both men and women - action and romance ( I know boys just grit your teeth)Felix, though somewhat crude, is made a vulnerable character by Carlyle, and his on off girlfriend is played well.
Samuel Jackson and Robert Carlyle together I thought would be a mistake but it works perfectly, whichever way they are acting, either being friends or hating each other its perfect.
Jackson plays a chemical mastermind who, for reasons unexplained, constantly wears a kilt - and hence provides the subject matter for the movie's one recurring gag.Writer Stel Pavlou seems to have been aiming at one of those character-driven, high-excitement, unlikely-partnering-of-opposites chase films.
Why in God's name he'd want to rehash that sort of formula I cannot explain, but regardless, the movie falls completely flat.The long and short of it is: everything in "The 51st State" has been done better before, and a bunch of scousers cussing and Sam Jackson without any underwear are not going to change that.
Thanks to a great script he had some of the best one liners since his Tarantino days (and when are we going to get another one of those anyway?) Robert Carlyle (who he?) played an excellent side-kick.
As a Liverpool born, 40 something female, who has spent a great deal of time travelling in the states, I found this film hilarious.
He was the LAST person I expected to see opposite Sam Jackson.Other winners in this movie were Ricky Tomlinson, Emily Mortimer and Sean Pertwee, although Meatloafs role was not quite as good and bordered on annoying occasionally.To reinterate, this movie is excellent if you're British, probably disapointing if you are not9/10.
This sets the stage for a fast paced action comedy that includes British actor Robert Carlyle who becomes Sam's partner in trying to sell this new drug.
Elmo McElroy (Samuel Jackson) is a kilt wearing chemist who after seeing his diploma go up in smoke back in the '70's, invents a powerful new drug which he plans to sell in England.
Samuel Jackson in a kilt, Meatloaf and Robert Carlyle in a violent but funny movie about drugs....What more could you want, Drug lords with Piles, Hitmen with bad hearing, Assassin girlfriends, Rave culture, Garbage barges, Golf, White trash, Incompetant cops and car chases.The list goes on and its all good, if you 'get' all the inferences from the movies background in Liverpool it is even better.
The scene with the Liverpool drug lord trying to buy the new drug from Samuel Jackson is one of my favourite 7mins of film, from the lift ride to the 'Drive' on the hotel steps only seems to last 1-2 mins it is so good.Watch It!.
Jackson as a master drug chemist intent on making a clean break from his life of crime with one final deal, and Robert Carlyle as the Liverpool-supporting thug for hire who helps him set that deal up, this movie is witty, finely paced, and well scripted.
Though this is not a football film, you can't set a film in Liverpool not mention it, it is a way of life there.The film is shot magnificently, and although the plot is a little far fetched, Samuel L Jackson, Robert Carlisle and co carry it off, my only disappointment was Rhys Ifans, who really couldn't master the accent and sounded more like Harry Enfield.This film is one of the better British Gangster film, and is much more enjoyable and professionally done than the 'brit pop' Snatch..
The script is highly English; specifically, it's north-west English, with the footie references and scouse accents being an instant turn-off for most people on the wrong side of the Atlantic.This doesn't stop "51st State" from being highly entertaining for us Brits.Carlyle's performance as Felix, Elmo's contact in Liverpool, entertains, as does Jackson, who, as usual, declaims his lines rather than acting.
Ifans clearly has a lot of fun as Iki, a highly confused and troubled dealer, but his scouse accent is gutteral and harsh, holding up better than Carlyle's (which wasn't bad).It's a far from perfect film.
I came to The 51st State with a completely open mind,not expecting too much or too little.However it turned out to be a total scream from beginning to end.The film starts off in a pretty mainstream way,making you think you are in for another of the seemingly endless stream of films with the same plotline.But then we are magically transported to Liverpool (my home town)and the film takes on a far more entertaining aspect.Unfortunately,this is maybe where our american friends may lose interest,not for reasons of plot etc,but for the fact that the humour becomes very british.No , it actually becomes very 'scouse',and even some english people dont get it.
But if you do get the humour angle youre in for a enternaining ride.Jackson is cool personified (as usual),Carlyle(great actor)turns in a creditable Liverpool accent,and to top it all off , a hollywood style car chase through the streets of Liverpool.
The only people I can imagine not enjoying The 51st State are Americans.Not because its a bad film but because the humour is very British and Americans may have a hard time understanding any humour that is not their own.
How they got Jackson and Carlyle to play in it I'll never know and the "exploding Robbie Coltrane" scene at the end was a hoot.The whole cinema was laughing out loud at various points through the film.
And here, in brief summary form, are some other things that are true: The acting of Samuel L Jackson and Robert Carlyle is very good.
I really expected a to have a great time watching this movie, I was really looking forward to it.
For some reason, Jackson's character wears a kilt throughout the movie, and the director/producers don't even try and fake an explanation, they just leave you to wonder until at the very end, they actually put a blurb on the screen that says something like "we don't know why he wears a kilt all the time".
Mix in chaotic characters with no foundation beyond Jackson's initial scene, Meat Loaf and his man breasts trying to be a tough drug kingpin, a ripoff joke on Mr. Bean and his Austin mini, and some indecipherable Liverpool English, and you end up with an achingly miserable movie.
And, naturally, they're not looking to solve a case, only to works a drugs sting which involves double-crossing about every drug dealer from Los Angeles to Liverpool.It could have been nothing special and, although the plot is hardly legendary, the fact that the two main leads are Samuel L Jackson and Robert Carlyle go some way to raising it above average.
Considering it's never really mentioned when people talk about the 'great' British gangster films, it's not as bad as it could be (and you get to watch Samuel L Jackson bust a few heads with a golf club – what more could you want?)..
It is still a complete Guy Richie knock off but Samuel Jackson is always a good time and his fish out of water -American chemist in Liverpool was pretty fun.
(As was watching him rock the kilt for an entire movie) I also liked Robert Carlyle & Rhys Ifans, and they saved this from being unwatchable (Meat Loaf).Jackson plays a disgraced pharmacist (the opening scene is classic) who travels to England to sell a potent new street drug he's invented.
With a cast as good as this (Samuel Jackson, Robert Carlysle, Sean Pertwee, and Meatloaf) you would have expected a little more daring and imagination than what we were given.