The 51st State

 The 51^st State 2001

• Director: Ronny Yu
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Samuel L Jackson, Robert Carlyle, Emily Mortimer, Meat Loaf, Sean Pertwee, Rhys Ifan
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Samuel L Jackson – Glass, The Hateful Eight, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Django Unchained, Jumper, 1408, Star Wars, Kill Bill, Changing Lanes, The Red Violin, Jackie Brown, The Long Kiss Goodnight, True Romance, Jurassic Park, Pulp Fiction, Jungle Fever, Mo’ Better Blues, Sea of Love, Do the Right Thing
• Robert Carlyle – Yesterday, T2 Trainspotting, Stargate Universe, Stone of Destiny, 28 Weeks Later, Flood, Hitler, Black and White, Once upon a Time in the Midlands, The World Is Not Enough, The Full Monty, Hamish Macbeth, Carla’s Song, Trainspotting, Go Now, Riff-Raff
• Emily Mortimer – The Bookshop, Hugo, Shutter Island, Lars and the Real Girl, Paris je t’aime, Dear Frankie, Bright Young Things, Young Adam, The Kid, Love Labour’s Lost, Notting Hill, Elizabeth
• Meat Loaf – probably something
• Sean Pertwee – Camelot, Doomsday, Equilibrium, Swing Kids, Prick Up Your Ears
• Rhys Ifan – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Boat that Rocked, Elizabeth the Golden Age, Once Upon a Time in the Midlands, Human Nature, Notting Hill
• Why? The cast.
• Seen: 16 August 2022      

       Samuel L Jackson in a kilt? Emily Mortimer as an assassin? Rhys Ifan as a yoga-loving arms and drug dealer? Robert Carlyle being Robert Carlyle? This is promising.

       Elmo (Jackson) is a master chemist, and he invents the all-time best drug, 51 times stronger than heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, and LSD, then he blows up the lab so his partner Lizard (Loaf) can’t get at it. Lizard tells Dakota/Sawn (Mortimer) that her enormous debt to him will be cancelled if she takes out Elmo. Off to Liverpool she goes on the same plane as Elmo.

       Small-time gangster Felix (Carlyle) hates Americans but agrees to work with Elmo for the price of two tickets to the Liverpool-Manchester United football match. There is a nasty cop, Virgil, (Pertwee) involved too.

       It’s just a silly drug heist film with lots of shooting and car chases but it’s funny. Jackson and Carlyle make a great Yankee-Brit pair and Mortimer as the icy killer who happens to be Felix’s ex just adds fuel to the fire.     

 3 ½ * of 5