The 51st State

American chemist Elmo McElroy has developed a synthetic drug called POS 51, made from legal ingredients, and intends to sell it himself rather than through his employer, a drug boss known as The Lizard. After their deal collapses, Elmo travels to England to find a new buyer and partners with Felix DeSouza, a talkative small-time operator who controls much of Liverpool's underworld. The Lizard, still determined to get his hands on the formula, sends the capable Dakota Parker after Elmo. Dakota has her own history with Felix, and her arrival complicates an already crowded situation involving club owners, police and local criminals, all of whom want a share of the drug trade.

Ronny Yu directed the film from a screenplay by Stel Pavlou. It followed Yu's Bride of Chucky and preceded Freddy vs. Jason. Samuel L. Jackson plays Elmo, with Robert Carlyle as Felix, Emily Mortimer as Dakota, Meat Loaf as The Lizard, Rhys Ifans as Iki and Sean Pertwee as Detective Virgil Kane. The production, a British-Canadian co-production, had a budget of 27 million USD and returned 13 million USD worldwide, a commercial shortfall relative to its cost.

The film holds a 6.3 rating on IMDb from 53,000 votes and a 6.1 on TMDB from 696 votes, while its critics' rating stands at 4.8 out of 10 from 100 reviews.