51st state
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États-Unis, 2001
De Ronny Yu
Scénario : Stel Pavlou
Avec : Robert Carlyle, Rhys Ifans, Samuel L. Jackson, Meat Loaf, Emily Mortimer, Sean Pertwee
Durée : 1h32
Sortie : 01/01/2001
Catching the wave generated by Guy Ritchie's films (by that I mean comedy with gangsters), Ronny Yu's film manages not to ressemble them too much, in order to be original enough not to be blamed with plagiarism. Although you can find in Formula 51 some of the same running jokes present in Ritchie's work (like the conflict between different accents, from cockney to american urban slang, or the gallery of caricatural characters), you never feel like the authors have intended to copy Lock, stock and two smoking barrels or Snatch. The movie sure reminds us of them but does not adopt the same structure as Ricthie's pieces, where the various characters and plots run into each other, again and again, creating more and more unbelievable situations. Ronnie Yu doesn't try to imitate Ritchie's film-making either, but there are some inevitable CGI shots, passing the camera through every hole possible..
The flick is also a variation on the buddy movie theme, with the two central characters being quite different from one another, though not antagonists to each other: an expeditive Afro-American and an English soccer fanatic. Two great characters interpreted by two very talented actors. It is really a delight to see the awkward chemistry between Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Carlyle (The Full monty). The movie of the century, Formula 51 certainly is not, however it is quite fun to watch when you get tired from all those cheap blockbusters.
