Layer Cake (Widescreen)
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Movie Reviews of Layer Cake (Widescreen)
Movie Review: Very happy
Summary: 5 Stars
I received the dvd when it said that I was going to get it, and it was well protectedMovie Review: Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
Purchased as a gift fot my hubby to add to his collection. Loved the movie.Movie Review: A Modern Gangster Navigates a Labyrinthine Criminal Underworld.
Summary: 4 Stars
"Layer Cake" is the first film directed by Matthew Vaughn, who produced 1998's "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and 2000's "Snatch". Like those films, "Layer Cake" takes place in Great Britain's criminal underworld, so Vaughn is very much in his element. It is based on the novel by J.J. Connelly, who also wrote the screenplay. The novel is known for its accurate exposition of the drug-dealing underworld, and a rough cut of the film was criticized for having too much of that and not enough plot. The final cut of the film doesn't have those problems, but it is long and languorous at times due to exposition and simple lingering on some scenes. The film's protagonist and sometimes-narrator is nameless throughout the film, an idiosyncrasy that the audience may or may not notice, but which struck me right away, since I was taking notes and couldn't catch his name. The protagonist is listed as "XXXX" in the film's credits and press kit, so that's what I'll call him.
The story concerns a successful cocaine dealer (Daniel Craig), who is scrupulously careful in how he does business and whom he does it with. "I'm not a gangster. I'm a businessman whose commodity happens to be cocaine," he says. He keeps a low profile, keeps the clients happy, keeps his supplier happy, only deals with a small coterie of associates, and doesn't get caught. But he believes in quitting while he's ahead. Before he can, his supplier Jimmy Price (Kenneth Granham) asks him to find a buyer for a large shipment of Ecstasy pills and to do favor: retrieve the errant daughter of prominent businessman Eddie Temple (Michael Gambon). It sounds simple, and our nameless purveyor of contraband reluctantly accepts. But it turns out that the guy who wants to sell the ecstasy, the Duke (Jamie Foreman), stole the pills from a Serbian drug lord in Amsterdam. The Serbian has sent his ferociously violent henchman Dragan (Dragan Micanovic) after the pills. Eddie Temple doesn't want his daughter found and is a man of grander agendas. And our man finds himself caught in the middle, immersed in a world of violence and inscrutable scheming that has gotten completely out of control.
One of the most interesting aspects of "Layer Cake" is the opening sequence, which introduces us to the concept of illicit drugs as an opportunity to make big money while they remain illegal, a status which our protagonist believes cannot last. "So until Prohibition ends, make hay while the sun shines." That's what the people on every level of the "layer cake" do. We also get occasional glimpses of the early days of the modern drug business in Great Britain, since some of the characters have been in it since the 1960s. Director Matthew Vaughn creates a sense of evolution of the illicit drug trade, whose modern incarnation started among hippies in the 1960s and may end in big business of the 21st century. The anonymous cocaine dealer XXXX is somewhere in the middle, a savvy businessman exploiting Prohibition to his own ends and loathe to contend with the lowlifes who still permeate the business. Daniel Craig does a good job of this character who comes out of nowhere and has limited ties to anything. He's put-upon, trapped, and we never really know if he is clever enough to cope with his situation or not. "Layer Cake" is a clever, modern gangster film that's a little too long, but at least the unnecessary shots are visually interesting.
The DVD (Sony Pictures 2005): Bonus features include 2 featurettes, deleted scenes and alternate endings, story boards, posters, and an audio commentary. There are 14 deleted scenes and 2 alternative endings with optional director commentary. If you thought the ending in the movie was questionable, as I did, you might prefer one of these. "Storyboard Comparisons" (3 ½ minutes) for 2 scenes show storyboards as we watch film of the finished scene for comparison. "Q&A Screening with Matthew Vaughn and Daniel Craig" (29 minutes) is a question and answer session with the director and actor at the National Film Theatre in London, September 2004. "The Making of Layer Cake" (6 minutes) features short interviews with the director and cast in which they describe their characters. "Poster Explorations" shows 24 posters. In the audio commentary, director/producer Matthew Vaughn and writer J. J. Connelly discuss story, characters, editing and directorial decisions, and how the filmmakers got some of the shots. Subtitles are available for the film in English, Chinese, French, Korean, and Thai. Dubbing is available in French.
Movie Review: Style delivered in layers
Summary: 4 Stars
The key to a good movie: A balance between style and depth. Matthew Vaughn's "Layer Cake" keeps that balance like two fat kids sitting on opposite sides of a teeter-totter.
Other than exceptional British acting, there's one reoccurring theme in Vaughn's different movies ("Snatch", "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels"). He takes the dirty things in the world and stylizes them, but keeps them realistic. In "Snatch" it was violence and underworld crime. In "Lock, Stock" it was gambling, stealing, and selling. In "Layer Cake", it's cocaine.
Case in point: Daniel Craig plays Mr. X, an unnamed cocaine dealer yearning for a quiet retirement from his business. He's a master, he's brilliant-in his own words, his business is easy as long as you don't take the piss and stick to a few basic rules.
The exposition in "Layer Cake" is as straightforward as any film: introduce the main character, his game, and his enemy. The upset comes next-Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham), a powerful drug lord, asks Mr. X to find the missing daughter of another powerful friend, Eddie Temple (Michael Gambon, Professor Dumbledore in "Goblet of Fire"). Reluctantly taking the offer, Mr. X is dragged back down into the bowels of the cocaine underworld and quickly finds his wishes of an easy retirement drowned in more murder and drug-dealing.
From here, "Layer Cake" runs parallel to "Scarface" in several ways other than cocaine. Mr. X is smarter than his cohorts. He's got the tools in the form of thugs and several back-up connections. He knows how to use them without too much hassle. X isn't as outspoken as Tony Montana but he's just as cunning, with an honest income and real-life connections. His character development takes him from a faceless dealer to a larger-than-life mastermind. By the end of the film, I was shaking my head thinking, "This guy is brilliant."
What isn't so routine and smooth is the story development. Vaughn doesn't hold your hand and point out the important characters. I often wondered who this guy or that girl was and why they were part of the current situation. The story is so deep that it took two or three views before I really understood the plot. Where "Snatch" and "Lock, Stock" had multiple, interlocked characters that come together in an end-all finale, "Layer Cake" branches off in so many directions that loose ends are difficult to tie up. Without ruining anything, the ending itself is very abrupt. It left me wanting another film, another scene, another possibility. If anything, despite the confusion, it shows that "Layer Cake" has a charm and a hook that snagged me.
"Layer Cake" also lacks the obvious humor of Vaughn's other British capers, and instead uses realistic wit to break up the tensity. Mr. X points out early on that dealing cocaine and getting busted comes in two flavors: 15 years in prison or $28K in fines, which is more time than a rapist. The way that some of the lines are delivered (which points to the fantastic acting) made me double-take-am I supposed to take it literally or am I supposed to laugh?
One of the most impressive things about "Layer Cake" is also evident in Vaughn's other films. The camera shots and overlapping scenes give off a feeling of life outside of what is currently going on. While Mr. X is doing something in one spot, someone else is making his life a living hell in another place. The music is also noteworthy, and it has a similar effect to "Snatch" in that it tells as much about the scene as some of the shots.
All in all, this is no "Snatch". It didn't make me laugh nearly as much and I'm not ranting and raving about how it's the best movie in years, but I'm sitting here floored by brilliant acting and a coolness factor so high that it's only the confusing story bringing it down. Watch "Layer Cake". Watch it twice. Watch it three times and finally pull it all together. It's worth the time.
Movie Review: "I'm a businessman whose commodity happens to be cocaine"
Summary: 4 Stars
Densely layered just like a layer cake, this new Daniel Craig film has so many twists and turns, with extraneous characters appearing and then disappearing, and a narrative that hurriedly switches backwards and forwards in time, that most viewers will probably be left absolutely giddy from the experience.
Admittedly, Layer Cake won't be everyone's cup of tea. The serpentine plot is often hard to follow, but the slick, pulsating production design combined with the raw and often brutal look at the shady underworld of drug dealing, more than makes up for the occasionally muddled narrative.
Layer Cake is all about the evolution of a businessman into a gangster, assassin, and double-crosser - a descent that comes as a surprise only to him. The sexy Daniel Craig is perfectly cast as a confident, cock-sure ecstasy dealer, who in an effort to apply solid business principles, treats his trade and as some kind of legitimate commercial practice.
As the film opens, Craig is explaining his philosophy in a voice over narrative - "you keep a low profile, work with people you know, and don't get greedy." He also announces his attention to retire from the trade, having made enough money from the sale of cocaine and other illegal substances to live comfortably for the rest of his life.
But just as he's visiting his bent accountant to have the profits of his last sale transferred into an anonymous bank account, his boss, Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham), gives him one last assignment. A buyer needs to be found for a huge consignment of Ecstasy pills that have been stolen from a tulip farm in Amsterdam.
Jimmy also wants him to track down the drug addicted, runaway daughter of his friend and corrupt business partner, Eddie Temple (Michael Gambon). Of course, both assignments are setups. Everyone wants to get their hands on the stolen pills, particularly the dealer, a loud-mouthed crook known as the Duke (Jamie Foreman), and their rightful owner, a sociopathic Serb called Slavo (Marcel Iures).
Helped by his trusted colleagues, Gene (Colm Meaney) and Morty (George Harris), our anonymous hero must navigate this shady world where no one is as they seem and where everyone is constantly trying to outwit and double-cross each other. There's not much honor among these thieves here, and even those whom our hero thinks are his friends, turn out to be his dreaded enemies.
It's certainly Craig's inimitable talents as an actor that keep this threads of the story hanging together, and he gives his character a bluster and conceit that eventually turns into an awkward shuffle once he realizes he's in over his head. But kudos must also go to first time director Matthew Vaughn, who does a good job keeping this complex film moving forward despite its labyrinthine plot structure.
Most of the action is seen and told through the perspective of Craig's nameless character, and there are numerous quickly edited flashbacks and shifting points of view, which emphasize the non-linear aspect of the story. A surprise ending will probably leave most viewers quite shocked, but perhaps it's best not to think too much how it fits into the rest of the story, as you'll probably find yourself getting confused.
Vaughn also makes the most of the London locales, shooting scenes in posh mansions, crack houses, construction sites along the Canary Warf, picturesque parks along the Thames River, and atop skyscrapers in London's financial district. Viewers who have given up following the story can sit back and enjoy the wonderful views of one of the world's greatest cities. Mike Leonard August 05.