"FORMULA 51"
(2002) (Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Carlyle) (R)

Alcohol/ Drugs	Blood/Gore	Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude	Frightening/ Tense Scenes	Guns/ Weapons
*Heavy	Extreme	Extreme	Moderate	Extreme
Imitative Behavior	Jump Scenes	Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Profanity
Moderate	Minor	Moderate	*None	Extreme
Sex/ Nudity	Smoking	Tense Family Scenes	Topics To Talk About	Violence
Heavy	Heavy	None	Heavy	Extreme

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QUICK TAKE:

Action/Drama: An underground chemist sets off to England to sell the formula for his new drug that's reportedly more powerful than anything on the street.

PLOT:

Elmo McElroy (SAMUEL L. JACKSON) is an underground chemist who makes illegal street drugs for The Lizard (MEAT LOAF). He's a ruthless criminal who wants to distribute Elmo's latest drug, P.O.S. 51, that's reportedly more powerful and satisfying than anything available. Elmo has other plans, however, and attempts to kill The Lizard.

Not realizing that his boss survived the booby-trapped attempt, Elmo heads off to Liverpool where he plans to sell his formula to powerful drug lord, Leopold Durant (RICKY TOMLINSON), who's sent a local, soccer loving goon, Felix DeSouza (ROBERT CARLYLE), to pick him up at the airport. Elmo also doesn't realize that The Lizard has sent his assassin, Dakota Phillips (EMILY MORTIMER), to kill him.

She's Felix's ex-girlfriend and just when she's about to shoot Elmo, The Lizard calls off the hit and wants her to bring him back and kill anyway who gets in the way. From that point on, Elmo and Felix form an unlikely pair as they try to sell the formula to another dealer, the flamboyant Iki (RHYS IFANS), all while dealing with Dakota, a bunch of local skinheads and a corrupt cop, Virgil Kane (SEAN PERTWEE), who's trailing them.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?

If they're fans of anyone in the cast or shoot 'em up action films, they just might.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R

For strong violence, language, drug content and some sexuality.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:

SAMUEL L. JACKSON plays a chemist who's had to make a living making illegal substances for others. He then decides to make his own money and thus tries to kill his boss (he fails but does kill many others) before heading off to Liverpool. He's strong-willed, uses strong profanity, and smokes pot back in his earlier days.

MEAT LOAF plays his criminal boss who wants revenge on him after the attempt on his life. He uses strong profanity.

EMILY MORTIMER plays a hired assassin who does jobs for The Lizard and kills various people. She ends up falling back in love with Felix and uses strong profanity.

ROBERT CARLYLE plays an assistant to a powerful criminal in Liverpool. He uses strong profanity, smokes and becomes Elmo's unlikely partner.

RHYS IFANS plays a wealthy and flamboyant drug dealer in Liverpool who agrees to buy Elmo's formula. He uses strong profanity.

SEAN PERTWEE plays a corrupt cop who's after Elmo and others. He uses strong profanity.

RICKY TOMLINSON plays Felix's criminal boss who uses strong profanity and wants to buy Elmo's drug formula.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

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Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit?
Then read OUR TAKE of this film.

(Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).

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OUR WORD TO PARENTS:

The following is a quick look at the content found in this R-rated action film. Profanity consists of at least 163 "f" words, along with all sorts of other expletives and colorful phrases. Some sexually related dialogue is present, while a couple is seen having sex in a bathtub (movement and partial nudity) and making out in other scenes. A man's bare butt is seen in a nonsexual context.

Many people are shot and killed (with bloody results), another explodes (with very graphic and bloody results), and an explosion kills more. Some fighting occurs where people are struck with fists or golf clubs. Some of those scenes could be suspenseful to some viewers (particularly sniper-related material in light of what's recently occurred in the Washington, D.C. area) and all of the major characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes (including a corrupt cop).

Some crude humor is present (a graphic mass diarrhea scene), while various characters drink and/or smoke. Some drug use occurs and the protagonist is an underground chemist who states he's made a drug that's more powerful and satisfying than anything on the street. Beyond all of that, some imitative behavior is present (including some characters being skinheads).

Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to look more closely at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content.

For those concerned with bright flashes of light, a scene set at a Rave gathering/party has full strobe effects.

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ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE

We eventually learn that some of the drugs listed here are placebos.

Elmo smokes a joint and we see other drugs in his car. A trooper then pulls him over and ends up smoking one of his joints before arresting him (and Elmo looks and acts rather high).

The Lizard has a drink.

We hear about a new wonder drug that Elmo has concocted and that various dealers want to buy.

People have champagne in first class on an airplane.

Various people drink in a pub.

We see a great deal of liquor behind a bar.

Elmo states that his drug is 51 times more powerful than cocaine, as hallucinogenic as acid and explosive as ecstasy (and says that it's like a personal visit from God).

Elmo gives a bunch of skinheads, who are drinking beer, what they think are powerful drugs (but they turn out to be powerful laxatives).

Iki is a drug dealer who wants to buy rights to Elmo's formula. He later comments that football (soccer) and drugs equal a perfect Saturday afternoon.

Elmo throws handfuls of his pills out to hordes of young people attending a rave and they take them.

Elmo makes drinks for himself and Iki, but it's Iki and The Lizard who end up drinking them.

Elmo states that drugs will always kill you in the end.

BLOOD/GORE

Dakota shoots and kills a man with her sniper rifle (with bloody results - we see blood squirt out from his head upon impact and then see blood on his head as well as on the concrete below him).

The Lizard shoots one of his own men in the leg (blood squirts out) and we then see a small, bloody trail on the floor behind the man as he stumbles away.

We see a man standing at a urinal. Three skinheads then push him aside and urinate (we hear the sounds). The leader then finishes and wipes his hand on another skinhead's clothes.

We see some blood on a dead man's hand.

We see a healed wound on a man's neck where he was previously shot. Moments later, he's shot there again as Dakota opens fire on a room full of people. As she shoots the various people (6 killed, 1 wounded), we see blood squirt out from their wounds and then blood running from one man's wounds.

Blood comes from a man's nose when he's kicked.

We see a very bloody man who's strung up above the floor (with blood running from his mouth).

We see a skinhead urinating in an outside corner of a building (nothing explicit).

Elmo gives a bunch of skinheads what they think are powerful drugs (but they turn out to be powerful laxatives). We then hear all sorts of farting and intestinal sounds and see huge brown stains in the men's pants and on the floor (played for laughs, with Elmo throwing some toilet paper to them as he leaves).

A man has what look like burn scars on part of his face.

Blood squirts out when a man is shot and we then see blood on the wall.

After drinking a potent chemical combination (where we a graphic representation of the man's stomach and intestines inside his body), a man apparently explodes (we see blood and guts completely cover several windows and then see blood and meaty chunks everywhere in a room and covering one man).

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE

Elmo is a chemist who makes drugs for a powerful criminal. He then double crosses him and kills various people (hoping to kill The Lizard as well).

The Lizard is a ruthless criminal who survives Elmo's trap and then orders for him to be killed. He also shoots one of his own men in the leg and kills another man.

Dakota is a sniper who's contracted by others to kill people (which she does).

Iki is a drug dealer who refers to a man as a "f*cking fairy."

A trooper smokes one of Elmo's joints before arresting him.

A boy tries to steal what he thinks is candy out of Elmo's pouch while Elmo sleeps on a plane.

Some skinheads have bad attitudes toward everyone they encounter.

Kane is a corrupt cop who wants in on the drug action and isn't above roughing up people.

Felix lifts some keys from Iki's lawyer and then takes his car.

FRIGHTENING SCENES

Scenes listed under "Violence" or "Blood/Gore" may also be unsettling or suspenseful to some viewers, but many of them are not played out in a standard suspense fashion.

Dakota shoots and kills a man with her sniper rifle (with bloody results - we see blood squirt out from his head upon impact and then see blood on his head as well as on the concrete below him).

We see Dakota having Elmo in the sight of her sniper scope, but the hit is killed off at the last second. She then proceeds to mow down everyone else in the room.

Dakota holds a gun on Elmo and escorts him away. He then eventually flips her over the side of a building and holds onto her hand as she dangles many stories above the street.

GUNS/WEAPONS

Handguns/Shotguns/Sniper Rifles/Machine guns/Bomb: Carried and/or used to threaten, wound or kill people. See "Violence" for details.

Iki shows Dakota a great deal of weapons from which she can choose.

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR

Due to the occasional thick accents, some of the dialogue was hard to understand. That said, we did hear the following phrases: "F*ck off," "Where the f*ck /is he at/have you been/am I doing here?" "He f*cked me" (nonsexual), "F*ck 'em," "Shut the f*ck up," "Right f*cking now," "What kind of f*ck up is this?" "You f*cking tw*t," "For f*ck's sake," "What the f*ck /just happened/is that?" "F*ck off," "You f*cking wanker," "F*ck you," "Fat f*ck," "F*cking brilliant," "I don't f*cking believe it," "Oh f*ck," "You f*cking fairy," "Big f*cking plans," "I should give a sh*t," "Oh sh*t," "Have you sh*t in your pants?" "Sh*t happens," "I think the sh*t is about to hit the fan," "Bullsh*t," "I'm so excited I could sh*t," "Pr*cksville," "Ain't that a bitch," "Get up off your ass," "Bollocks," "Bastard," "(Misguided) Wanker," "Pissing," "Nutbag," "You're about as welcome as a dose of the clap," "Who the hell are you?" "Fag" (cigarette), "Bloody" (adjective), "Stay down bitch" (said to a man), "Piss off," "Bugger" (noun), "Ass wipes," "Dress wearing monkey boy," "Aren't you the little clever junkie monkey?" "Scumbags," "Chick" (woman), "Piss it all away," "My ass" and "Onions" (testicles).

Dakota shoots people as a sniper.

Felix lights a flare and runs through a pub with it. He then appears to give the people "the finger" as he flees.

We see some skinheads who have tattoos on various parts of their bodies.

Elmo drives a car down a road quite fast so that he can have it jump across a body of water and onto a garbage barge.

JUMP SCENES

A few scenes where people are suddenly shot might startle some viewers.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE)

A moderate amount of suspenseful music plays in the film.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE)

A few songs have lyrics that can't be understood, thus offering the possibility of additional potentially objectionable material.

PROFANITY

Due to the occasional thick accents, some of the dialogue was hard to understand. That said, we did here at least 163 "f" words (12 used with "mother," 1 used sexually as are 4 uses of "shag"), 40 "s" words (1 written), 10 slang terms using female genitals ("tw*t" and "c*nt"), 4 slang terms using male genitals ("pr*ck" and "d*ck"), 1 slang term for breasts ("t*ts"), 17 asses (1 used with "hole"), 9 bollocks, 4 hells, 3 wankers, 1 S.O.B., 5 uses of "G-damn" and 1 use of "Jesus" as exclamations.

SEX/NUDITY

As Elmo sleeps on a plane wearing a kilt with his legs partially spread, Dakota tries to sneak a peek up the kilt, but a flight attendant puts a blanket over him.

Elmo comments on a certain drug having the same sensation as sex.

Commenting on Dakota wanting to know about Felix whereabouts, Iki comments on wanting to "scratch that itch."

Dakota mentions Felix hopping into bed with his soccer jersey, but then states that it was a "good shag."

We see brief images of dancing women in tight and revealing clothing at a party.

Felix and Dakota briefly but passionately kiss.

Kane holds a gun on Elmo who stands at the top of a ladder. Kane then makes some sarcastic remark about people like him having bigger (but he doesn't finish the thought as he sees a bulge forming in the front of Elmo's kilt). It turns out to be Dakota holding a handgun between Elmo's legs and against his kilt. Elmo then tells her she can move her arm.

As Felix and Dakota go up the stairs to get cleaned up, his mother says, "No shagging up there" and Elmo repeats that. We then see Felix and Dakota in the bathroom where they start passionately making out (he's clothed, she's in a long shirt and panties). He then lifts up that shirt and we see her panties. He then grabs her, she wraps her legs around him and he puts her on the sink. More passionate kissing and heavy breathing occur and he then kisses down her body (and out of the camera shot).

We then see them rolling around in a bathtub full of water (both are still in their wet underwear). He then takes off her shirt (we see the tops of her bare breasts), more kissing follows, and we then see their wet underwear dropped to the bathroom floor. We then partially see him between her legs with some movement and the rhythmic squeaking of a bath toy that pushed up against the side.

Iki tears open his shirt to reveal himself wearing a black bra.

We see Elmo's bare butt as he walks off a golf course completely nude.

SMOKING

Felix smokes at least 10 times, his mom smokes several times and Dakota smokes once.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES

None.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT

There's some sniper related material for those sensitive to such matters in regards to the recent Washington, DC area shootings.

Drug use and drug dealers.

Elmo states that drugs will always kill you in the end.

People trying to get a new start in their lives.

VIOLENCE

Dakota shoots and kills a man with her sniper rifle (with bloody results - we see blood squirt out from his head upon impact and then see blood on his head as well as on the concrete below him).

The Lizard shoots one of his own men in the leg (prompting others at the meeting to pull out their guns, but there's no more gun firing).

A huge explosion (with a fireball) blows out most of an upper floor of a building and kills many people.

Felix grabs a guy's clothed crotch and inflicts some pain.

Some skinheads push a man away from a urinal.

Those skinheads then try to make trouble for Felix, but he elbows one in the face and then holds his gun on the others.

Felix learns that his assistant misunderstood his directions and killed the chemist with them. We see the dead man in the trunk and Felix repeatedly slams the trunk lid onto the dead man's hand while trying to close it.

Durant's men grab a maid at the door and throw her to the couch where they hold their guns on her (they then let her go).

Under new directions from The Lizard, Dakota opens fire on various people in a drug meeting. She kills six and wounds one as she riddles the room and its occupants with gunfire (and one of the thugs shoots another thug for shooting back at her, but doing so too low). She then shoots Felix in the clothed butt.

Elmo punches a skinhead and then takes a golf club to others who try attacking him (he blocks them and then hits them with it). Felix then kicks an injured guy in the crotch. Felix hits more of them with his club (flipping one over).

A side-view mirror and door are torn from Kane's police car.

Various cars crash into each other.

Dakota delivers a roundhouse kick to a skinhead's face.

Elmo drives a car into Kane's and smashes it backwards, sideswiping various parked cars in the process. He then pushes it out of an alley onto a main street where a large truck smashes into Kane's car.

Kane has a multiple gunshot victim strung up in some chains and hanging horizontally above the floor. After pushing some sort of wand into one of the victim's wounds through his clothes (and inflicting pain), he tells his associate to get the man down. That man then signals to another who then lets a huge cargo container (under which the victim is hanging) fall to the floor, presumably squashing the man.

A bunch of skinheads hold guns on Elmo, Felix and a pharmacist.

Felix uses his gun to shoot off a handcuff around his wrist.

Dakota holds a gun on Elmo and escorts him away. He then grabs the gun, flips her over the side of a building and holds her there by her wrist.

Kane holds a gun on Elmo, but Dakota then holds a gun on him and Elmo punches Kane several times.

While interrogating Felix, Kane pins him back against a wall with a table.

Felix's mother slaps him on the back of the head.

Various people hold guns on each other.

The Lizard shoots and kills a man. He then shoots the dead body again and then holds two guns to Elmo.

After drinking a potent chemical combination, a man apparently explodes (we see blood and guts completely cover several windows and then see blood and meaty chunks everywhere in a room).

Reviewed October 15, 2002 / Posted October 18, 2002

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