Layer Cake [DVD]

From the producer of Snatch, Matthew Vaughn makes his directorial debut in the stylish crime thriller Layer Cake. Based upon J.J. Connolly’s London crime novel, ‘Layer Cake’ is about a successful cocaine dealer (Daniel Craig) who has earned a respected place among England’s Mafia elite and plans an early retirement from the business. However big boss Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham) hands a tough assignment: find the missing daughter of Jimmy’s old pal Edward (Michael Gambon). Complicating matters are millions of pounds worth of Grade A ecstasy, a brutal Serbian gang and a whole series of double crossing.
When a seemingly straight-forward drug deal goes awry, he (Craig) has to break his die-hard rules and turn up the heat, not only to outwit the old regime and come out on top, but to save his own skin…
As its title suggests, Layer Cake is a crime thriller that cuts into several levels of its treacherous criminal underworld. The title is actually one character’s definition of the drug-trade hierarchy, but it’s also an apt metaphor for the separate layers of deception, death, and betrayal experienced by the film’s unnamed protagonist, a cocaine traffic middle-man played with smooth appeal by Daniel Craig (whom you probably don’t need reminding is the latest James Bond). Listed in the credits only as “XXXX,” the character is trapped into doing a favor for his volatile boss, only to have tables turned by his boss’s boss (Michael Gambon) in a twisting plot involving a stolen shipment of Ecstasy, a missing girl, duplicitous dealers, murderous Serbian gangsters, and a variety of lowlifes with their own deadly agendas. As adapted by J.J. Connolly (from his own novel) and directed by Matthew Vaughan (who earned his genre chops as producer of Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch), Layer Cake improves upon those earlier British gangland hits with assured pacing, intelligent plotting, and an admirable emphasis on plot-moving dialogue over routine action. Sure, it’s violent (that’s to be expected) and not always involving, but it’s smarter than most thrillers, and Vaughan’s directorial debut has a confident style that’s flashy without being flamboyant. This could be the start of an impressive career. –Jeff Shannon