Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining to the last
Review: This is one of those films that you can watch once ,put down for a few weeks/months,and on a Friday,or Saturday night with nothing to do,watch again.My main complaint is the ammount of swearing throughout the film.I do believe this is one of the few films that gets placed in the Guinness Book Of World Records for using the "F" word dozens&dozens of time,and its many combinations.It has what I consider the "Hollywood Formula Screenplay" to make a "style" film.Quintin Tarantino set the pace with Resevoir Dogs,and there were many carbon coppies made after.Some good,some bad,and yes...some ugly.The soundtrack to this film,while mysteriously unavailable is great throughout the movie and set the film's pace.
All the characters are entertaining,and while a little over the top&over zealous at times,it all fits with the way the film was intended to play.The only character I did'nt care for was the "female assasin".She was unbelievable as an assasin in every way,shape&form.The guns she fired were parcticaly bigger than she was,and looks like (if in the real world) she would'nt even be able to hold up any of them to aim strait enough and hit the broadside of a barn.All in all,this movie is just fun to watch with a group of friends.Break out the beer,popcorn&whatever else you like to consume while watching a flim like this,it's a kick.
Rating: 
Summary: Can Samuel L. & Carlyle overcome Yu's awful direction?
Review: "Formula 51" was fitful to watch. I blame the dreadful directing by Ronny Yu. The opening sequence (after the pitiful pandering to 60s/70s drug culture in the prologue) has Samuel L. Jackson creating some kind of chemical we don't know about, with Meatloaf mad at him for something we don't know about, and Samuel L. Jackson trying to blow up Meatloaf because... well, we just don't know why... because Yu doesn't tell us.The subpar directing continues to the end of the film when the reality of Samuel L. Jackson's ecstasy-style designer drug (the namesake for the title "Formula 51") is revealed. The ending really cheapened the previous 90 minutes (if that was possible). The redeeming quality of this film is Robert Carlyle (also seen in "The Full Monty"). Robert Carlyle is fantastic. He is the only reason this movie is watchable. He is frenetic and unpredictable. It is classic Carlyle as he jumps between "lightning in a bottle" zaniness mixed with brief glimpses of sincere vulnerability. What stands out memorably is a scene where Carlyle supports his Liverpool soccer/football team by entering a pub dominated by Manchester United fans, lighting a flare, and preceding to insult them and taunt them. The thirty of them chase him around the pub. It is pure physical comedy and a true fantasy for anyone who loves to hate the Manchester United club. Samuel L. Jackson is the lead as Elmo McElroy. True to his Scottish last name, he wears a kilt and brandishes golf clubs in fights. He is fairly cool, but not as dominatingly cool as he is in Pulp Fiction. Yes, there are some laugh-out-loud moments, but they are outnumbered by groan-out-loud moments. Do not expect "Snatch" or "Pulp Fiction" with this one. Ronny Yu is not in the same league as Guy Ritchie or Quentin Tarantino.
Rating:
Summary: "Formula 51," or quality garbage
Review: "Formula 51," they say, is a film that falls into that "love it or hate it" variety. I can see some truth in this common notion, but I myself am neither thrilled nor irked by the movie. Like a drug, this film's highs don't come without grating lows. For instance, the cast is superb (putting Sam Jackson and Robert Carlyle together was ingenious), but the plot is incoherent. I suppose an incoherent plot can be ignored in a movie as shamelessly comical as this one, but the fact that the best stuff is sandwhiched between a laim first and final act is harder to overlook. On top of that, "Formula 51" evokes choppier editing, flashier glitz, and more distracting tunes than an MTV music video. In the end, I just found myself too enthralled by a second act which never lead to a satisfying conclusion.
Rating: 
Summary: Incroyablement bon !!!!
Review: ...It is a mixture of Pulp Fiction (and of the first Tarentino script, can't remember its name, True Romance??) and Monthy Python non-sense, with a flavor of very dark humor (dead people all over the place). Samuel L. in kilt, is for a french guy, a hell of an idea. The view of England through american eyes is also very funny. On the top of that Samuel plays a genius pharmacological chemist that looks real...Enjoyable, really.
Rating:
Summary: Formulaic 51
Review: A movie that never lives up to its potential, FORMULA 51 seems more like an exercise in filmaking or B-Movie than a major release. People might be looking for a PULP FICTION or a SNATCH here, but it is not quite on the same level. It's more on the level of Mark Wahlberg's 1998 cult action film THE BIG HIT and to no surprise, both films are by directors from the Hong Kong film industry (Ronny Yu and Kirk Wong respectively). What saves the film is the casting of international stars with the likes of Samuel L. Jackson, Meatloaf, and Robert Carlyle with their outrageous characters. They are in a story about an American (Jackson) who has invented the ultimate drug in hopes to sell the formula to make a final score. He travels to Liverpool, England to meet with mobsters in hopes it will become the next fashion drug at 'party raves'. The dialogue is fast and crisp, the action and gunplay are graphic and bloody, and there is the right amount of comedy mixed in with the violence with some plot twists and turns to keep the film moving. There are some plot holes and predictable plot devices and if the film went beyond the right amount of 92 minutes, the audience would have had enough of all the gratuitousness. Overall, entertaining, but only for the fact of the cast and slight comedic moments.
Rating:
Summary: Formula 51
Review: A qiute good offbeat film that unfortunately misses the mark.
For a start a large number of Americans will not get the irony of the film. Looking at the film in retrospect now, you have to be English to understand some of the humour . Also to our transatlantic cousins, there are other cities in The UK after London!
The superb Samuel L Jackson is playing a toned down caricuture of Samuel L Jackson for us tamer brits; ha ha.
However I do enjoy this film and seeing Jackson trading insults with assorted British tv actors who ( lets be honest )are not going to set Hollywood alight. With the exeption of Robert Carlyle plays a great comical/cynical sidekick who always delivers in his peformances.
It is also refreshing having a British action film, not wussy period dramas or crappy romantic comedies starring the antichrist Hugh Grant!
Rating:
Summary: Formula 51
Review: A qiute good offbeat film that unfortunately misses the mark.
For a start a large number of Americans will not get the irony of the film. Looking at the film in retrospect now, you have to be English to understand some of the humour . Also to our transatlantic cousins, there are other cities in The UK after London!
The superb Samuel L Jackson is playing a toned down caricuture of Samuel L Jackson for us tamer brits; ha ha.
However I do enjoy this film and seeing Jackson trading insults with assorted British tv actors who ( lets be honest )are not going to set Hollywood alight. With the exeption of Robert Carlyle plays a great comical/cynical sidekick who always delivers in his peformances.
It is also refreshing having a British action film, not wussy period dramas or crappy romantic comedies starring the antichrist Hugh Grant!
Rating:
Summary: the 51st state
Review: a very funny and witty film just proves that england does produce good actors in the shape of robert carlye, the film also shows a breif look at british club culture. overall a must see film.....
Rating:
Summary: Not one of Jackson's Better Formulas
Review: Comparing this movie to those of Tarantino and Monte Python give Formula 51 too much credit. "Tarantino on the Thames" this is not. Beyond Samuel Jackson, the only saving grace of this movie is the sexy assassin played by Emily Mortimer. An almost unrecognizable Meatloaf (yes.. the rock singer) also has a small part but adds little to this formula. The plot relies on a very odd and offbeat offering of comedic and at times graphic violence. The plot is old and worn out but the movie however, invokes a few laughs. In many parts you will ask yourself, "what the hell was that all about?". If you like Samuel Jackson you may like it. Be warned however: Formula 51 is definitely NOT one of his best. This is rental entertainment at most.
Rating:
Summary: Brit Flick!!!
Review: Finally a great action movie set in England, and not by Guy Ritchie!!
The 51st State, although no masterpiece, is a fantastic way to spend 90 minutes - violence, comedy, a little sex and a lot of Sam Jackson and it's set in the UK.
America - at last you can see that it's not just provincial towns, cups of tea and Hugh Grant sound a likes this side of the atlantic.
The 51st state - go see it!
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