THE 51ST STATE
Starring:
Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Carlyle, Emily Mortimer, Rhys Ifans, Ricky Tomlinson,
Meat Loaf and Sean Pertwee
Director: Ronny Yu
Running Time: 98 mins
Certificate: 18
Available to buy on DVD 7th October
Elmo McElroy (Jackson) is a master drugs chemist who is just sick of making money for other people. Taking matters into his own hands by wiping out his boss, the Lizard (Meat Loaf) and the rest of his competitors in L.A., Elmo heads for Liverpool to set up his own deal. With $20 million deal on the table with Leopold Durant (Tomlinson) for a totally legal new wonder drug everything is working out as planned, until Dakota Phillips (Mortimer) opens fire on the deal. Hired by the not quite dead Lizard, the only thing that stands between Elmo and a bullet is Felix DeSouza (Carlyle), for a 5% cut of the deal of course.
Another British movie involving crime but for a change this one is very good. Turning the American buddy-movie on its head and taking it up a notch, this is more of an extremely violent version of Rush Hour, but from the criminal's perspective.
Tremendously well played by the excellent cast, this is tongue-in-cheek violence with a very British attitude. Samuel L. Jackson reaffirms himself as the coolest guy on the planet, who else could make chemistry Cool and Robert Carlyle brings his ardent Liverpool supporter hard-man to the screen with a great passion. Great support from Rhys Ifans, Ricky Tomlinson and another good performance from Meat Loaf (He was brilliant in Fight Club) make the movie particularly watchable. The only downsides are the underplayed subplots, like you never get to find out why Dakota owes so much money to the Lizard and why she went to America in the first place, but these are only distractions from what is a good script.
Genuinely funny, action packed but excessively violent, this might not be to everyone's tastes, but for those who loved Lock, Stock… and Snatch this movie will be right up your street. Any movie that has its climax in the church of Football, that is Anfield is well worth going to see.
Audio Commentary with screenwriter Stel Pavlou, 'Making Of' Featurette, On-set video diary, Interview with screenwriter Stel Pavlou, Photo gallery, Trailer, Interactive menu, Scene access, Dolby Digital (5.1) & Cast and Crew Interviews
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