51st State Log

Despite any negative reviews you may read
on The 51st State, it holds a dire metascore of 23,
Samuel L Jackson in a kilt still remains an
excellent reason to watch it.

 51st State, or Formula 51 as it's known to our touchy transatlantic cousins, the 2001 Ronnie Yu action-comedy starring Samuel L Jackson and Robert Carlyle is an odd film in the way that it is the product of so many nationalities and cultural heritages - Canadian financed, mostly shot in Britain using British actors and Yu originating from Hong Kong combines to create a truly multi-national film, in perhaps the least artistic sense of the word.

 The title I feel is a direct reference to Britain's intimate relationship with the USA as their almost goofy, younger sibling which is demonstrated in the way the film is shot and edited during the opening LA sequence, with it's glossy tint and smooth cuts, in comparison with the rest of the film which frequently uses jaunty camera angles, quick camera movement and abrupt cuts, much akin to the likes of other current British crime films, such as Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. This is also reflected in the two main characters, with Samuel L Jackson acting as the mostly serious, archetypical American Gangster with high ambitions seen in countless Hollywood films and Robert Carlyle assuming the role of the painfully outspoken, daft but trustworthy wannabe British hard man.

Unfortunately, shades and goatee or not,
it still remains physically impossible
to look as cool as SLJ.

 The film is mostly comprised of throwaway gags and ineffectual plot thickeners, however, both the prologue and epilogue to the film throw in an otherwise unused element during the remainder of the film of race and the issue of racism. The film begins with Jackson's character being pulled over by a white police officer on the day of his graduation for reasons unstated (though he is seen smoking a joint) and although pleads are made for his criminal record to remain clean, the police officer retorts with "it's not the 60's any more" and thus Jackson is then shown to have been somewhat forced into a life of drug creation and therefore criminal activity.This almost legitimises his turn to crime and could perhaps symbolise the notion that although a black men can live successfully and be on their way to becoming something respectful, shown in the character's recent graduation, white men always manage to bring them back down to what perhaps many white people see as their primary occupation: crime.

He also comes in hats!

The film's ending, on the flip side of it's beginning, shows Jackson purchasing the castle of his  British ancestor's slave masters, thus his surname being McElroy despite his clear lack of British heritage. The final shot shows a fully naked Jackson walking towards his new castle, showing a brazen defiance to any racial boundaries and an overcoming of his race's subjugation to inferiority, overthrowing the previous hierarchical system, symbolised even further in the fact that his butler is white.

Cultural identity is a topic riddled throughout 51st State, perhaps due to it's multi-cultural production. However, that is the only practical theme I can ascertain from the film, though I appreciated it's British sensibilities and even more so it's British sense of humour.