Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Carlyle, Emily Mortimer, Meatloaf, Sean Pertwee, Rhys Ifans
Director: Ronny Yu
Producers: Jonathan Debin, Andras Homori, Malcolm Kohll, Seaton McLean, David Pupkewitz
Screenplay: Stel Pavlou
Cinematography: Hang-Sang Poon
Music: Headrillaz
U.S. Distributor: Screen Gems
It is possible, however improbable, that a "bad" movie can still be highly enjoyable. Formula 51 is such a film. The dialogue is cheesy, the direction is hamhanded, the screenplay is chaotic, and the acting is over-the-top. Yet, the movie still manages to work on its own terms. It doesn't aspire or pretend to be anything other than what it is, which is good enough to earn it the label of a "guilty pleasure."
In terms of tone and intent, Formula 51 is an action/comedy – an attempt to wed aspects of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels with Elmore Leonard, Quentin Tarantino, and Monty Python. It doesn't always work, but the glue that holds everything together is Samuel L. Jackson. There are two Jacksons – the intense, serious actor who can captivate with a word or a look, and the scenery-chewing Jackson, whose supercool rants cause the nape hairs to stand on end. In Formula 51, he's in full rant and kick-ass mode. This is Pulp Fiction's Jules with all of the pretensions stripped away. (It is worth noting that, in addition to starring in the movie, Jackson executive produced it.)
Elmo McElroy (Jackson) is the kilt-wearing master chemist who has traveled to England to make a $20 million drug deal. McElroy has developed a little blue pill he calls POS-51 that is 51 times stronger than cocaine, 51 times more hallucinogenic than acid, and 51 times more explosive than ecstasy. It can also be made without having to use any illegal ingredients. But only he knows how, and he'll sell the information for the right price. Unfortunately, McElroy is being chased by his former employer, a drug lord named The Lizard (Meatloaf), who has employed an infallible hitwoman, Dakota (Emily Mortimer), to deliver McElroy into his hands. Along the way, McElroy has acquired a partner of sorts, Felix DeSouza (Robert Carlyle), who is supposed to set up a deal with a drug dealer named Iki (Rhys Ifans). Felix, who happens to be Dakota's ex-lover, is set to make $1 million out of the sale, but he'd rather get tickets to a big soccer match instead.
This is one of those films where each character is worse than the next. The nicest of them has a trail of bodies in his (or her) wake. We tend to root for McElroy not because he's heroic in any way, but because he's played by Samuel L. Jackson. He displays amazing skill with a golf club and a nasty mind when it comes to mixing and matching chemicals. Formula 51 is spattered with bodily fluids. Blood and guts grease the wheels of plot progression. McElroy develops a laxative that an entire package of Immodium wouldn't be able to counteract. And one character meets his end in a manner that hasn't been seen since Monty Python and the Meaning of Life.
In terms of acting style, Robert Carlyle takes his cue from Jackson and hams it up. Emily Mortimer is delightful as the very serious, very deadly Dakota, who desperately wants to know what's under McElroy's kilt. Sean Pertwee plays a corrupt cop with a sneer. Rhys Ifans brings his lunatic charm to the part of an androgynous drug dealer. And, in a case of improbable casting, Meatloaf plays one of the most dangerous men in the world.
Director Ronny Yu, a veteran of the Hong Kong cinema, doesn't appear to have a full grasp of how a film like this needs to be assembled. (Maybe he should have consulted Guy Ritchie.) Some of the scenes and shot angles are awkward and don't work. The action sequences are generally well done, but problems occur in scenes where no one is being shot, blown up, or clobbered with a golf club.
It's difficult for an action/comedy to work, since it has to succeed, at least to a degree, in both arenas. Formula 51 isn't a rousing success, but its sheer outrageousness is infectious, and, for those willing to get into the experience, it is capable of delivering. Not everyone will be enthralled (especially those with delicate sensibilities and even more delicate stomachs). Upon leaving the film, I did not feel educated, enlightened, or enriched. However, I did feel entertained.
© 2002 James Berardinelli