The 51st State
(2001)
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Kilt-wearing master chemist Elmo McElroy (Samuel L. Jackson) has developed a new drug that is more potent then cocaine or Ecstasy. Best of all, none of the ingredients are illegal, meaning that this substance could easily be sold worldwide. Unfortunately for McElroy, he is caught in the snare of psychotic drug kingpin the Lizard (Meat Loaf). McElroy's attempts to escape his boss and start a new life land him in Liverpool, England, where he encounters Felix DeSouza (Robert Carlyle), the America-hating henchman of a local drug lord. DeSouza and McElroy find themselves on a wild, dangerous ride as they try to make a deal that will net them some major cash and give them a chance to start over. In the meantime, Dakota (Emily Mortimer)--a beautiful assassin who happens to be DeSouza's ex-girlfriend--is sent by the Lizard to kill McElroy, but ends up becoming his guardian angel. The quirky cast of characters also includes Rhys Ifans as Iki, a disturbed drug dealer and rave host; Sean Pertwee as Detective Virgil Kane; Ricky Tomlinson as the haemorrhoid-plagued Leopold Durant; and, a group of skinheads who want in on the deal. The film is directed by Ronny Yu (BRIDE OF CHUCKY). |
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On the surface, this visceral crime thriller from Bride of Chucky director Ronny Yu is merely an exercise in noisy excess, and yet several elements mark it out as something slightly unusual. For openers, the script about a master chemist trying to sell the ultimate in designer drugs was sent to Samuel L Jackson by a first-time writer and off-licence worker (Stel Pavlou), and then given the go-ahead. On top of that, it's set in less than glamorous Liverpool; streetwise Jackson's pharmacist hero wears a kilt; and antagonistic sidekick Robert Carlyle is a rabid football fan who's only in it for a prized match ticket, not the money. It's these tongue-in-cheek details — and familiar Liverpudlian faces from TV shows such as Brookside — that add some freshness to a fairly mindless film. Rhys Ifans's eccentric crimelord and Emily Mortimer's sexy hitwoman don't ring true at all, but gritty realism isn't on the agenda here.