The 51st State - A buddy-cop movie (but not with cops)

We’ve all seen the ‘buddy cop movies’ where two mismatched police officers are forced to work together in order to solve a case.  Well… this is like one of those.  Only the central protagonists aren’t cops – they’re criminals.  And, naturally, they’re not looking to solve a case, only to works a drugs sting which involves double-crossing about every drug dealer from Los Angeles to Liverpool.

It could have been nothing special and, although the plot is hardly legendary, the fact that the two main leads are Samuel L Jackson and Robert Carlyle go some way to raising it above average.  For a start they play off each other well.  It’s fair to say that the two actors are about as different physically as can be and that also goes some way to help their – fragile – relationship as they’re pursued through Liverpool by everyone from drug dealers to crooked cops and assassins.

The two leads are about the only ‘A-listers’ on the case, but the supporting cast has all sorts of familiar faces cropping up, all turning in pretty decent performances.

It may not have the general wit and style of other British gangster films (ala Lock Stock and Snatch), but it’s fast paced enough to keep most people’s interest if you’re generally a fan of gangster films and don’t mind watching too much violence and blood (and other bodily fluids) flying across the screen, then you might like to give this one a go.  Considering it’s never really mentioned when people talk about the ‘great’ British gangster films, it’s not as bad as it could be (and you get to watch Samuel L Jackson bust a few heads with a golf club – what more could you want?).

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that