Review of 51st State, The

Introduction

The 51st State is that movie you`ve seen the trailer for where Samuel L Jackson comes to the Liverpool wearing a kilt…in America the film is known as Formula 51. Robert Carlyle and Meat Loaf also star.

Jackson stars as a master chemist who plans to do a once in a lifetime drug deal, selling his powerful new formula drug, guaranteed to take you to the "51st State". But as ever, things don`t go to plan when he arrives in Liverpool and ands up with Carlyle as his escort whilst trying to avoid the attentions of a crime boss (Meat Loaf) he swindled back in America.

I saw the movie at the cinema, and despite the very mixed reviews, would categorise it as "entertaining drivel", although how it stands up to repeat viewing on DVD remains to be seen!

Video

The video is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and is particularly disappointing for a major film made last year. The image is over exposed and is particularly grainy, and at times is not particularly detailed or crisp at times either. Which really is a shame, because the film is quite stylish at times, and would have benefited from a better quality transfer.

There are several memorable scenes, including a hotel room shootout and a car chase through the streets of Liverpool and of course the finale. The film is quite violent, with plenty of shootings, fights and blood, most of which quite brutal.

Audio

The soundtrack comes in a choice of Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0. The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is good, but the DTS 5.1 sound has slightly more range and power, and is the choice for those whose system can replay it.

The sound itself is pretty good, with the rear channels put to good effect for music and effects, including gunfire, explosions and cars during the chase scenes. Keep an eye out for a pair of trucks at traffic lights to give your subwoofer a workout.

The dialogue is clear and understandable, and if you`re not a fan of swearing in movies, this isn`t the film for you, Robert Carlyle (among others) makes swearing an art form at times!

Features

The extras include an audio commentary; a making-of featurette; four production featurettes; an on set video diary; the photo gallery and a trailer.

The making-of featurette is pretty run of the mill, featuring the stars promoting the movie, with interview snippets cut into footage of the film. The production featurettes are short and don`t offer much of note. The interviews feature the clips used in the making-of featurette. The audio commentary is quite entertaining and gives a good insight into the movie.

Conclusion

Overall, after seeing 51st State again, I stand by my original rating of "entertaining drivel", it`s not a good film by any standards, but there is plenty of entertainment and plenty of laughs. If you want a film to watch with the lads over a crate of beer, this is the one, however, if you want a quiet night in with the wife/girlfriend, perhaps you might want to look elsewhere!

Jackson and Carlyle are both excellent as ever, and the supporting cast all turn in solid performances.

The video is disappointing but the sound is good and there is a reasonable range of extras.

To summarise, this is perhaps one to rent out rather than buy if you`ve not seen it before. Prudes need not apply!