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| You want to see Samuel L. Jackson in a kilt? Ronny Yu's Formula 51 is the flick for you then |
The 51st State (the film's British title) is one of those Pulp Fiction-wake films that just do not compare in quality to Quentin Tarantino's masterpiece.
The gimmicky plot here is:
A Yankee meets a limey in a huge drug deal that goes South.
The script by Stel Pavlou (Rendezvous with Rama (announced)) is light, concocted and the pace is a little bit on the slow side. - Overall, Formula 51 is a very forgettable film.
The strong cast includes Samuel Jackson (Pulp Fiction), Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty (1997)), Emily Mortimer (City Island (2009)), Rhys Ifans (Greenberg (2010)) and Meat Loaf (The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)), and they make the film acceptably entertaining if not actually memorable in any meaningful way.
I must confess that I don't know Hong Kong-born director Ronny Yu (Fearless/Huo Yuanjia (2006)) well. His Western films are not great, although Bride of Chucky (1998) is at least a more fun watch than Formula 51. Apparently, Jackson, working also as one of the film's executive producers, for some reason recommended him to direct.
Related post:
Ronny Yu: Bride of Chucky (1998) - A bizarre puppet slasher black comedy
Watch the trailer for the film here
Cost: 27 mil. $
Box office: 14.4 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 0.53 times the cost)
[Formula 51 was released 7 December (UK) and runs 92 minutes. Writer Pavlou, who conceived the plot in 1994, had envisioned a 1 mil. £ production. Shooting took place in England and in Los Angeles, California, wrapping in September 2000. It opened #12 in North America, its peak there, where it grossed 5.2 mil. $ (36.1 % of the total gross). Yu returned with Freddy vs. Jason (2003). Jackson returned in The Comeback (2002, short) and theatrically in Changing Lanes (2002); Carlyle in Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2002). Formula 51 is rotten at 26 % with a 4.3/10 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Formula 51?
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