Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
An American master chemist plans to score big on a once in a lifetime drug deal. All does not go as planned and he is soon entangled in a web of deceit.
The 51st State is a raucous transatlantic crime-comedy that pairs Samuel L. Jackson's eccentric chemist with Robert Carlyle's reluctant muscle against a backdrop of Liverpool's underworld. Jackson brings his trademark charisma and the odd-couple dynamic has genuine charm, while Carlyle and Emily Mortimer add solid support. The Liverpool setting gives it a distinctive flavor rarely seen in Hollywood-adjacent productions, and the culture-clash humor lands often enough to entertain. However, the plot is a formulaic double-cross thriller with little genuine surprise — the twists are telegraphed and the narrative logic is loose. Cinematography is workmanlike at best, serviceable but unremarkable. The ending resolves chaotically without much payoff or satisfaction, feeling rushed rather than earned. A fun, mid-tier genre piece that coasts on its cast's energy more than its screenplay's ingenuity.