Layer Cake

Plot synopsis:
Daniel Craig's character, Mr. XXXX (his name is not mentioned, and will be henceforth referred to as Craig) opens the movie, with a narration into the illicit drug industry and the billions of dollars it is worth. He doesn't reveal his name, because "If I told you that, then you'd be as wise as me." He considers himself a 'businessman whose commodity happens to be cocaine- not a gangster.' We discover that Craig is a middle-man drug dealer, who is planning on an early retirement having earned a nice little fortune for himself.We're then introduced to the various people in Craig's world. The camera cuts to a group of 'loud wannabe gangsters' in Amsterdam, one slightly crazy Duke who works in the Craig organization, his girlfriend Slasher, and second in command, Gazza. We also meet Morty (George Harris) and Terry (Tamer Hassan), two guys who watch Craig's back. Morty is a thug like character, with ties to the criminal world. We then see Craig paying his head supplier, Jimmy Price, and the payment is picked up by Price's right hand man, Gene (Colm Meaney). Gene mentions that Price wants to meet up with Craig for lunch.Over lunch, Price gives Craig an assignment- to find the daughter of one of his dear old pals, Eddie Temple (Michael Gambon, aka Dumbledore). She's hooked on cocaine and has gone missing somewhere. Craig is reluctant to take the job, but Price basically forces him to take the job. Meanwhile, we find that the crazy Duke and Slasher have hijacked a shipment of a million Ecstasy pills from a bunch of Serbians, who are understandably pissed that they've been robbed. Unfortunately for Craig, during the hijacking, Duke carelessly throws Craig's name around, which is the start of many troubles for Craig. The Serbians hire a hitman named 'Dragan', who has a penchant for putting his victims' heads into coolers, to track down the responsible. Furthermore, Price wants Craig to negotiate a purchase with Duke for the stolen pills.Craig meets two pals in a club, Cody and Tiptoes, to ask them to find Temple's daughter, while he tries to secure a buyer for the pills. He bumps into Sidney, Duke's nephew, who has an incredibly hot girlfriend, Tammy (Sienna Miller). Craig is instantly smitten, as he locks eyes with Tammy. Meanwhile, Dragan has already struck, killing a lower rung member of Craig's group, Paul the Boatman. Paul, it seems, had Craig's cellphone number, as Dragan wakes up Craig early one morning with an ominous phone call. Craig decides to borrow a Luger pistol from Gene for protection.With a bit of downtime, Craig phones Tammy, and she comes over to his room for a tryst. Before they can have sex, Craig is kidnapped by men posing as room service. He's taken to Eddie Temple, who reveals that Jimmy lost millions of dollars in a bad investment, thanks in part to Eddie. Jimmy has kidnapped Charlotte, to force Eddie to help him get his money back. Jimmy purposely assigned Craig to the job, knowing that Eddie would find Craig trying to track his daughter down, and kill him for it. Thus eliminating Craig, a smart young potential rival, and getting his money back at the same time. All of this is revealed in a tape recording of Jimmy, who also turns out to be a police informant. Temple also blackmails Craig into selling him the pills.Incensed, Craig uses the Luger pistol that he borrowed from Gene to kill Jimmy. Woops- Gene realizes this much when he reads the ballistics report from the police, and proceeds to beat the heck out of Craig. Craig manages to convince Gene otherwise by letting him listen to the incriminating tape recording. With great timing, Dragan calls again, and sets up a meeting with Craig to hand over the Duke, and the pills. Unfortunately, the Duke and the pills are nowhere to be found (and it turns out that Gene had Duke and Slasher both executed), and the ex-Duke gang has gone under the radar.Craig goes off to meet Dragan, but decides to bring a little insurance along- his own sniper to eliminate Dragan. In a surprising sequence, Craig's hired sniper is killed by Dragan, and Dragan threatens Craig once more, by giving him just one more day to turn over the pills and Duke. Fortunately, Craig and his buddies are able to track down the ex-Duke gang, now led by Gazza, thanks to the carelessness of Sidney. Gazza and Craig are negotiating the sale of the pills, when the police arrive and confiscate the pills, while Craig, Gazza, and the gang escape by boat. At the end of the day, Craig meets with Dragan, and presents him with the head of the Duke, which he obtained from Gene. He also tells Dragan that the pills have unfortunately been seized by the police- Dragan reveals that he observed all of this. Happy with the Duke's head and the pills in no one's hands, he reports back to his Serbian bosses, who are also satisfied.It turns out that the 'cops' were actually men hired by Cody and Tiptoes, and Craig is actually in possession of all the pills. Craig takes the pills to Eddie, who shortchanges Craig by paying him only half of the agreed upon price, thanks to all the 'troubles' that Jimmy and Craig gave him. However, Craig had second guessed Eddie's intentions, and passed along the information to rival dealers, who ambush Eddie's pill truck and seize the pills.We cut to the end scene, where Craig is at a country club, preparing to go into his early retirement. All of his buddies are toasting him, and eating layer cake. He leaves, and walks out with his girlfriend, Tammy. As he turns to tell the camera that he's quitting because he doesn't want to end up dead, Tammy gives a brief scream, and Craig is suddenly shot in the chest. As he lies dying on the pavement, a jealous Sidney runs over, says 'I'm sorry', and runs off.

Tags: comedy, boring, neo noir, murder, violence, flashback, revenge

Review:
The plot twists and turns at various points throughout, and you do begin to care about the lead character and the associates around him.The film oozes cockney cool, and although not quite on par with the best of the genre, it is still a worthy, and very engrossing, offering from director Matthew Vaughn.
It helps that Vaughn gets excellent performances from Daniel Craig as our cool but in-over-his-head unnamed antihero (usually films and books that refuse to name their main character strike me as trying too hard to be clever, but it works here), Michael Gambon nearly stealing the show as a cultured but ruthless narcotics kingpin, Colm Meaney and THE INTERPRETER's George Harris as our protagonist's partners in crime, and many folks from Guy Ritchie's films.
Though I've only seen Daniel Craig in three of his many films (the other two were THE ROAD TO PERDITION and THE JACKET), he's clearly one of those actors who never looks or sounds the same from role to role, so if he does indeed end up being Pierce Brosnan's successor as James Bond as rumored, it'll be interesting to see how he fares playing the same character in more than one film!
"Layer Cake" the stylish neo noir film by Matthew Vaughn, making his directorial debut, shows a man with enormous potential to do much better in future projects.
I was really looking forward to seeing Matthew Vaughn's turn at directing a film and what better genre to see him make his debut in than the British gangster genre especially after his roles in the fabulous 'Lock,Stock...' and 'Snatch' even though they were Guy Ritchie's.
I can IMPOSSIBLY outline the plot of Matthew Vaughn's Layer Cake, so I'll just say it's about a nameless guy (Daniel Craig) doing some criminal stuff in London.In my observation there are three approaches to gangster characters in crime films: 1) The overly-amateurish 'gangsters' that are scared sh*t and mess up, like in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, 2) The kind of gangster who is an amateur, but picks up on criminal ways quickly and effortlessly if the occasion calls for it, like Max the cab driver from Collateral and 3) The stone-cold professionals who can do whatever, whenever with whatever, like any mob-boss, contract killer, etc.What is so endlessly refreshing about Layer Cake (2004) is that it applies none of these approaches to its main character Daniel Craig.
Its director is the producer of Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and it is clear here that he is trying to move away from flashy Ritchie editing and effects as much as possible, making his own film just a bit too barren in order to be 'different'.
A shady living, true, but still a living.A few bland characters and an extra-template romantic storyline featuring Sienna Miller (I like her, but she is redundant in this film) drag this film down, but overall it is a very solid crime thriller, superbly acted by Daniel Craig.
It still engages though but at times it feels unsure of itself and will occasionally feel a little long  fans expecting Lock Stock will be trying to laugh (as they were in the audience I was in) as they try to work out why it isn't funnier, while those looking for a more traditional gangster film will wish it would lose the modern style a bit, tighter the plot and make it more focused.The cast was a surprise to me because I happened to have seen The Football Factory the other night and a great deal of them were in and around the support cast here.
But it does happen.That's what I really like about Layer Cake and Daniel Craig's character in particular; he's sort of living out the ultimate fantasy of every enterprising illegal drug dealer on the planet with greater ambitions.
This British gangster film was originally intended for director Guy Ritchie's typically heavy-handed approach, but thankfully, duty took him elsewhere and the gig landed in producer Matthew Vaughn's hands.
Vaughn is now well-established amongst the Hollywood elite, having since gone on to direct the underrated Stardust (2007), the hugely entertaining Kick-Ass (2010), and the rather hit-and-miss X-Men: First Class (2011), but he made his name with this now-cult and extremely stylish little thriller that also paved the way for star Daniel Craig to become James Bond and an A-lister in one swoop.
Vaughn's ability to stamp his quirky humour onto relatively familiar grounds is clear from the off, with Craig nameless protagonist (credited simply as XXXX) giving us the narration to his world, only this protagonist is about to get a massive life-lesson, and one that is quite suitable to our times.XXXX is a successful cocaine dealer who, along with his cohorts Gene (Colm Meaney), Morty (George Harris), Terry (Tamer Hassan) and Clarkie (Tom Hardy), is on the verge of making the big deal that could see his retirement.
All roads lead to XXXX, who finds himself pulled into a labyrinthine crime world where he starts to truly know his place.This world of loud-mouthed gangsters and powerful old men in expensive suits that London (and the UK film industry) seems to enjoy mixing itself up with is frankly tiresome and has been done to death (especially in the straight-to-DVD market).
The actors carry the movie and in the end the movie also offers some nice and thoughtful twists, like you always could expect from a British gangster movie.Daniel Craig was a surprising and great leading actor.
While it certainly helps to understand what's going on, you don't necessarily need to to enjoy it.This is a pre-Bond Craig, and even though I think he's fantastic as Bond, I thought he was even better in "Layer Cake." His character has more personality and I felt I could relate to him a lot better.
Layer Cake is the latest in a long line of British crime flicks, which was started off by Guy Richie's excellent 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'.
I have yet to watch a more complicated movie, think of it as: Snatch multiplied by Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels to the power of Snatch plus three Snatches.Daniel Craig is very good in his smarty-pants gangster role, good enough for me to sincerely wish him well, and therefore, not to obtain or pursue seriously this James Bond role.
She agreed, so we sat through the clichéd characters (stolen, lock stock and two smoking barrels, from Guy Richie's far superior film), wooden acting, dire dialogue, desperate direction, tiresome plotting and laughable attempts at any kind of believability or realism.
Perhaps it improved immeasurably after that but in the end, life is just a bit to short to spend even a nanosecond watching such pisspoor film-making.The plot seems to involve Daniel Craig's drug dealer character (Billy?) completing one last score before retiring (yawn).
"Layer Cake" fulfills the stylishly gritty Brit gangster film tradition from "The Long Good Friday" to "Sexy Beast" through "The Long Firm" mini-series.Debut director Matthew Vaughn has learned his lesson from producing Guy Ritchie films like "Snatch" to not let the flashy techniques dominate the story.
Craig incorporates but now goes beyond the street smart alcoholic cops he could have gotten stuck playing on TV shows.Part of the shiftiness of the action (and judging by murmured predictions in the audience all got as fooled scene by scene either by the what or the who or the why as the gob-smacked characters) is due to playing on our assumptions about characters if we relax into thinking they are stereotypes, from masterminds to enforcers, thanks to a marvelous cast of character actors.Visual jokes pop up throughout, like a close-up of a copy of "Dante's Inferno" in a king pin's library, a negotiation in a gentleman's club and the ironically titular dessert at the center of a celebratory meal, to keep the very cynical humor going when the going gets bloody.While the score by Ilan Eshkeri and Lisa Gerrard is very propulsive, the British pop song selections, even in the background as helping to establish flashback periods, are choice..
A director's job is not just to make friends with all those nice people around you (that's a producer), a director's job is to stand alone and isolated and nervous as to whether you made all the right choices and the most creative decisions.If directing is an enjoyable experience during the making of the film, you might have to ask yourself the question, "am I really a director?"Still, if its not really working, you can always throw in a load of violence (like having a camera's head kicked-in as in 'Goodfellas'), coupled with a ton of popular semi-underground dance music, and make sure you shoot in anamorphic widescreen because it sounds good (against the advice of all those professionals around you who were indirectly but politely trying to tell you, not to do it because you don't deserve to do it).
Which talented director is really going to want to work with a producer who's a frustrated wanna-be director?We have a history of being the birthplace of some of the great world-class filmmakers from Alfred Hitchcock to David Lean, from Nicolas Roeg to Ridley Scott, and more recently from Jonathan Glazer to Chris Cunningham to name but a few, if we are to continue this line we need to ensure that the talented receive opportunities rather than the well poised and well positioned.Layer Cake is overrated and soulless, but worth a watch if just to glimpse at what the British Film Industry could be like.
Sienna Miller's role was fleeting and the character was not developed enough for it to have any point in the movie, the bad guys were not hardly tough or scary enough and the lead role (Daniel Craig) was that of a man out of his depth and without substance.
Layer cake is a very good thriller.Matthew Vaughn made a solid debut with this film.The story is very difficult to understand,so you must have a lot of attention.If you distract a second you won't understand anything.I didn't have much expectations with this film,so I took a nice surprise,because this film is really fun from the beginning until the end.I think that Daniel Craig is perfect as the main character.Like I said before,you need to have a lot of attention with this film.I love this kind of films where you don't need to distract a second.I think that this is a very solid movie and I recommend it and it would be interesting to watch Vaughn's next projects..
The idea that a middle class non-entity like the character played by Daniel Craig could be a successful cocaine dealer is ludicrous to begin with, but the threshold of credulity is well and truly smashed when we discover that the arch-villain in the film is played by a particularly unconvincing Michael Gambon.
We only have his word for it.) If it wasn't a sexy business no more interesting than someone who imports tulips from Amsterdam.Let me continue my laundry list: Guns are fired, Craig looks wide awake, danger, heavies are put in motion, cross is followed by double cross and British lovies overact their little socks off not believing that they - the limping TV actors that they really are - have finally got on the big screen.Layer Cake won't linger long in your mind, but it does zip along and keep you watching.
The director of "Layer Cake", Matthew Vaughn, acted as producer of the Guy Ritchie hits "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch".
Consequently, the film has a bit of a convoluted feel as we follow the story's zig-zagging path to its conclusion.The acting is capably executed with Daniel Craig in the spotlight portraying a nameless cocaine dealer on the verge of retirement (there's always one last job, isn't there?).
While many of the techniques employed by Vaughn are mere imitations of better work by other directors the complete package is not by any means unattractive.So, for those who enjoy films about the exploits of gangster lowlifes this is an easy recommendation, particularly if you're fond of British examples of the genre (like the movies of Guy Ritchie).
This was a British gangster flick at its finest with touches of Cool Britannia.Daniel Craig has shown himself to be a fine actor and I think his portrayal of James Bond will certainly be worth getting a first night ticket.I cannot recommend Layer Cake enough if you like that genre of films - well put together and acted with a good diversity of characters - Sienna Miller's good eye candy and underused (a deliberate act??)..
Being a fan of gangster movies and eager to see what the new James Bond is like I saw Layer Cake and it blew my expectations away.
However, Vaughn takes the directing a bit too seriously, and Layer Cake never really takes off the way Lock Stock and Snatch did behind Guy Ritchie, but while this is a slight criticism I loved the movie otherwise.
In the rear of its release, it seems to be 'smarter than your average' drug movie, but many similar have been out since.A good role for Daniel Craig, a minimal role for Tom Hardy.Part of most people's 'best of the British' list.
The film definitely plays far better upon a re-watch, but that shouldn't be the case.Layer Cake is the best British gangster film since The Long Good Friday.
It was awesome!It tells the story of an unnamed person, XXXX (Daniel Craig), a drug- dealer who wants to retire from his job, but he receives two final assignments from his boss that will make his and his partners life very difficult.The story is well introduced to us, as well as the main character, and from the first minutes I got hooked into the story and I couldn't stop watching it.
Vaughn is also far too enamoured with his own ending, with a cheesily stylish walkout typical of a superhero movie - you might as well blare the Avengers theme as he does so.Daniel Craig is pretty good as XXXX, nothing to write home about (I love him as Bond, but I wouldn't be basing that decision on this film alone).
Daniel Craig stars as XXXX (his character has no name, and he makes that a big point right at the end, like it's really important or something), a mid-level drug dealer who wants to treat his work as a real business, that is, without the violence usually associated with it.
This forces Craig to take a different role to his usual middle man, and be a player in the whole game.It might sound like a typical plot for a gangster movie, but its the way Layer Cake is executed with all the twists which makes it so good.
There are no "characters" in this thing like there are in the Guy Ritchie films and humor is completely lacking.While it makes for a decent crime drama, there's only a hint of sex, and no reasonable expectation that anything resembling a plot will ever come to a meaningful climax either.Perhaps my expectations were too high, but this would have played better with Statham in the lead role, Craig seems wooden, unsympathetic and his character victimized by his circumstances instead of taking the lead one might expect from a character called XXX.If anyone needs a used copy look me up, definitely a one-spinner and not one I'll soon be spinning again..
In what could have been a standard tale of a man doing one last job before going straight, we, along with Craig, find that all roads are blocked, it's as if there is some higher force at work here.Layer Cake also scores high for its more easy on the eye filming of London, this is no destitute capital where tower blocks loom like monsters over the characters.
When the rival crime lord(Michael Gambon)wants to buy away the amount of Ecstasy that is somewhere in his asoscate's possession,the pressure is on for Mr.X to deliver the goods and not get killed in the process.While the architecture of this film's plot(i.e. what happens to whom and when)feels a little muddled and the skittish speaking from some lesser characters is a trifle tough to understand,this is still the mark of a well-executed,cool movie.
First time director, Matthew Vaughn, like it or not, arrives with very high expectations after producing two classics: "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch".There are two ways to look at "Layer Cake".
Layer Cake follows the formula carefully, but a lack of inspired writing causes it to miss the mark as a great, or even really good, crime movie.Having said all that, this film has two things going for it: a steady funnel of action that keeps a firm grip on audience interest, and a compelling performance by Daniel Craig.Unfortunately, I missed quite a bit of dialog in the movie because I'm not fluent in British.
Nothing great, pretty much just another British gangster film, however Daniel Craig is excellent and the editing plus cinematography are very good..
The modern tradition of the violent and sardonic London 'in yer face' gangster movie - starting with "The Long Good Friday" and continuing through "Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch" - is continued here with a movie that is the directorial debut of Matthew Vaughn who worked as producer on the last two of the aforementioned films.
This is a film where everyone's trying to be too clever, both characters and director, and it's a shame because the ingredients are there for a splendid movie.Still it's easy to see from this why Craig got the Bond role and he could do well to bring a bit more of XXXX to it..
It's easy for Layer Cake to become lost in the recent flurry of British gangster movies, including the Vaughn produced Lock, Stock and Snatch.