The Feature:
I can remember last year sitting in a movie theater, waiting for the main feature to play. Like always, the audience and I were treated to a barrage of movie previews, one of which was for an upcoming movie called "Formula 51." At first, I thought it was a movie about racecars, but alas, it wasn't. Instead, it was about some sort of super drug. I turned to one of my friends and said, "There is no way you could pay me to see this crap." It's now a few months later, and I have reneged on my original statement.

The year is 1971. Elmo McElroy (Samuel L. Jackson) has just graduated college with a pharmacology degree. All is well until he is pulled over by a cop for possession of drugs. He is stripped of his degree, and years later, becomes a chemist capable of concocting drugs more potent than anything on the market today. Sounds interesting so far? Well not really. Anyways, Elmo manages to free himself from his "contract" with his boss, The Lizard (Meat Loaf). As a result, Elmo takes a trip out to England to meet with the foul-mouthed Felix DeSouza (Robert Carlyle). Their mission is to sell his super drug, while avoiding a bunch of baddies, and a hitwoman.

"Formula 51" definitely steals most of it's style from "Snatch", which in turn was a retread of "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels." The movie is packed with strange characters, odd dialogue, and lots of accents. Sam Jackson is okay in this movie, which he also was the Executive Producer of. Unfortunately, the usually great Carlyle, of "Trainspotting" fame, is given little to work with. Meat Loaf's character is a walking cartoon, with scars on his face, and his constant "hissing" with his words. Add to the mix an extremely confusing storyline, and we're left with a pretty mediocre movie.

This movie is nothing special. Don't go out of your way to watch it, unless you're a huge Samuel L. Jackson fan, love British accents, enjoy lots of cussing, desire to see skinheads crap their pants, or are fascinated by the amount of blood that splatters on a wall when somebody spontaneously combusts.

Video:
Columbia Tri-Star presents "Formula 51" in Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1 and Full Frame 1.33:1. For the most part, everything looks good, although it's not the stellar transfers I've come to expect from Columbia Tri-Star. Colors look good, but flesh tones seem to be a little dull. There is some edge enhancement present, as well as some specs of dirt and grain throughout the print. But overall, it doesn't disappoint.

Audio:
The audio is presented here in Dolby 5.1. I expected more of a speaker workout from this movie, especially considering the booming soundtrack, and various action scenes. Dialogue, as confusing as it is with all the accents, is crisp and clear, and that's what really counts… isn't it?

Menus:
An interactive DVD menu (complete with a funky dance beat and flashes of clips from the movie) offers the choices of "Play Movie", "Subtitles", "Scene Selections", "Special Features", and "Trailers." It's one of the cooler DVD menus I've seen lately.

Extras:
"Formula 51" is very light in the extras department. The only notable extra is a 14-minute featurette called "Cinemax Special: The Making of Formula 51." And like most featurettes, it's just a combination of scenes from the movie intertwined with comments from the cast and crew. Also included are trailers for the following movies: "Formula 51", "Bad Boys", "Half Past Dead", "Snatch", and "xXx." Honestly, it's not like Columbia Tri-Star these days to release a DVD with little to no extras, regardless of how bad the movie is.

Final Thoughts:
I didn't like this movie. I doubt you will. The sub par audio and video, coupled with a virtually nonexistent set of extras has me teetering between "Skip It" and "Rent It." Therefore, I will give this movie the benefit of the doubt, and suggest that you rent it before you even contemplate purchasing it.