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The 51st State

The 51st State

Thriller · Action · Comedy · 2001

An American master chemist plans to score big on a once in a lifetime drug deal. All does not go as planned and he is soon entangled in a web of deceit.

Movie details

The 51st State

“Nice wheels. Dirty deals. And one mean mother in a kilt.”

2001 Thriller · Action · Comedy 1h 33m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.3 / 10

52.5K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

26 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

23 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

6.1 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

An American master chemist plans to score big on a once in a lifetime drug deal. All does not go as planned and he is soon entangled in a web of deceit.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The 51st State?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Ronny Yu

Written by

Stel Pavlou

Samuel L. Jackson

Samuel L. Jackson

Elmo McElroy

Robert Carlyle

Robert Carlyle

Felix DeSouza

Emily Mortimer

Emily Mortimer

Dakota Parker

Meat Loaf

Meat Loaf

The Lizard

Rhys Ifans

Rhys Ifans

Iki

Sean Pertwee

Sean Pertwee

Detective Virgil Kane

Ricky Tomlinson

Ricky Tomlinson

Leopold Durant

Court is in session

Put The 51st State on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Adrenaline Seeker

“Momentum is a formal choice.”

The velocity sharpens instinct and tension, making every beat land before self-importance can settle in.

The prosecution The Auteur Devotee

“Speed as an alibi.”

The film races past its weak spots and hopes acceleration will keep the audience from inspecting the evidence.