Formula 51 (2001) on Netflix
Elmo McElroy, an American master chemist, arrives in England to sell the formula for a powerful synthetic drug. Liverpool fixer Felix DeSouza collects him for crime boss Leopold Durant.
- Netflix3.2/5
- IMDb6.3/1052,993 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes26%
Trailer
Plot summary
POS 51 is a synthetic drug that needs only basic equipment to make and is fifty-one times as potent as anything else available. Its inventor, the American chemist Elmo McElroy, comes to England to find a buyer, and Liverpool fixer Felix DeSouza is sent by Leopold Durant, who heads a local criminal organization, to collect him. At the meeting, Elmo presents the formula, and Durant's chemist, Pudsey, confirms his claims. Durant offers bonds worth a little over a million dollars, eighteen million short of the price they agreed on, and Elmo refuses to sell. The drug lord known as the Lizard, who had hoped to sell the substance himself, brings in a contract killer named Dakota.
Cast
- Anna Keaveneyas Shirley DeSouza
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Formula 51 (2001)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The screenplay for The 51st State was originally written with Laurence Fishburne in mind for the lead role of chemist Elmo McElroy, before Samuel L. Jackson became a star and took the part.
- Screenwriter Stel Pavlou said the drug-trade plot came from Liverpool's history in the slave trade, moved into the present day as a story about a new drug.
- Stel Pavlou originally budgeted The 51st State at around £1 million and planned to direct it himself, but trouble getting funding made him step aside and take only a co-producer credit; it was finally budgeted at $28 million five years later.
