Layer Cake
Release Date:
May 13, 2005
Limited release
On the Big Board |
| Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
| 3/25 |
Max Braden |
Great crime drama. Sienna Miller's best screen moment. |
| 30/60 |
Les Winan |
An engaging crime film. Looks better than it actually is. It's too bad we won't see Matthew Vaughn's X-Men 3. I have no problem with Daniel Craig as James Bond. |
| 54/85 |
Kim Hollis |
It's actually better in retrospect, after having also read the book. A great little crime caper. |
| 101/166 |
David Mumpower |
The official export of Britain should be the slick crime drama, but this is a convoluted, sub-par effort. |
After sitting in the producer’s chair for the UK crime films Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, Matthew Vaughn will now put on the director’s hat as he attempts his own entry into the genre with Layer Cake, a thriller set in Britain’s drug underworld.
Daniel Craig (Enduring Love) is the unnamed hero of the story, a stylishly dressed professional who has made his name in the cocaine and ecstasy business by being polite, clean and way under the radar. Having made plenty of cash during a long-standing career, our protagonist has made the decision to retire and get out of crime altogether.
Nothing is ever that simple, of course. Crime boss Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham) demands two favors from Mr. X. The first request is that our hero should track down the missing daughter of the powerful criminal Eddie Temple (Michael Gambon). A drug addict herself, she’s not going to make his job easy.
Additionally, Price wants Mr. X to negotiate the sale of a huge case of ecstasy with a loose cannon of a crook known as The Duke (Jamie Foreman). This small-time criminal also happens to be way, way out of his element.
Soon, our hero realizes that getting out isn’t going to be any easy task, as he discovers that duplicity and secret alliances are the rule rather than the exception. Ultimately, he’s become a pawn in a power struggle that goes from the smallest of crack addicts to the very highest elements in London society. (Kim Hollis/BOP)
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