SOME actors have to work overtime to look cool on screen, others can do it in their sleep.

Samuel L Jackson falls into the latter category. This man is so cool he would look sharp in a kilt. In fact, in The 51st State (18) he does.

He plays a double crossing chemist who has developed a wonder drug that has 51 times the effect of cocaine and can be produced using components readily available over the counter at Boots.

Having cheated colleagues in America out of the formula Jackson heads for England to seal a deal with underworld boss Ricky Tomlinson.

This turn of events has not gone down well with his American associates, particularly excitable gangster Meatloaf, who dispatches assassin Emily Mortimer to kill him and retrieve the formula before he signs his deal.

Jackson is met by Tomlinson employee and identikit Scouser Robert Carlyle (whose character rejoices in the name of Felix De Souza) whose job it is to keep him alive until his name is on the contract and the drug formula is in Tomlinson's pocket.

This isn't as easy as it sounds. Mortimer's bloodthirsty assassin is intent on getting her man, Tomlinson has some gun-toting rivals and bent policeman Sean Pertwee (last seen wooing Hermoine Norris in Cold Feet on Sunday night) also wants a piece of the action.

As if Jackson hasn't got enough problems, the man sent to protect him loathes Americans, especially tall and brash ones who insist on wearing a kilt.

What follows is a familiar tide of car chases, shootouts and slanging matches set against Liverpool's better known landmarks.

Despite its American connections and Canadian backing the film, which was written by former Threshers employee Stel Pavlou and produced by Jackson himself, feels very British.

The script is peppered with English references and tries to do for Liverpool what Get Carter did for Newcastle and the Long Good Friday did for London.

There are a host of well-known British faces popping up throughout the film. Best known of all the minor roles is Tomlinson as a permanently exasperated mobster.

Jackson exudes macho cool throughout, striding through familiar looking streets in that kilt. His energetic performance is closer to those in Shaft and Pulp Fiction more than the thoughtful role in Unbreakable.

He works well with Carlyle and although the film goes out of its way to avoid the buddy buddy cliche of two opposites finding grudging respect for each other, it just can't stop it happening.

It is just as well though because their performances, and the relentless nature of the action serve to stop the viewer from noticing some gaping holes in the plot.