Layer Cake

Matthew Vaughn did a good job at keeping Layer Cake from crossing that line. It is very entertaining movie about drug dealing in England. Daniel Craig does a brilliant job in the leading role and is supported by an interesting cast of characters. The movie does have its weaknesses but they’re generally forgettable. Layer Cake is a joy to watch from beginning to end.Daniel Craig’s character (who remains nameless throughout the entire movie) is looking to end his career as a cocaine distributor. He’s already worked out his retirement plan and wants to get out as soon as possible. He’s asked by his boss Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham) to track down Charlie, the teenage daughter of Price’s business partner Eddie Temple (Michael Gambon), who appears to be in some trouble. Although it seems like a weird request by Price considering that Craig’s character’s line of work involves drug distribution and not finding people, it seems like an easy job for Craig’s character.

However, things quickly turn ugly for Craig’s character. While also doing a job for Price that involves picking up one million estacsy pills from a gangster with a wild side named Duke (Jamie Foreman), things go south. Soon, Craig’s character is being threatened by a powerful Serbian gang that originally owned the pills until Duke’s group stole it from them. Under the belief that Craig’s character is the mastermind of the theft, the Serbian gang puts pressure on Craig’s character to surrender the pills. As well, Charlie’s disappearance makes this issue even more convoluted. Along with help from his partner Morty (George Harris) and Price’s right hand man, Gene (Colm Meaney), Craig’s character tries to figure his way out of this weird situation and retire from this culture once and for all.The movie tries to act cool and does a good job at it. There are some lame parts though. The fact that the main character of the movie (Craig) has no name feels absurd. It’s kind of silly seeing XXXX pop up during the closing credits as a character’s name. Another flimsy part of the movie is that The Duke’s group of idiots are so stupid that how they managed to outsmart the Serbian gang is almost nonsensical. Also, the character Tammy (Sienna Miller) serves hardly any purpose except at the very end. Her scenes throughout the movie feel like a waste and unnecessary. Additionally, the scene where Morty (George Harris) goes nuts and beats up his former partner in a coffee shop and is forced to go into hiding feels kind of awkward and serves as a weak attempt at throwing a monkey-wrench into Craig’s character’s plans.However, these problems hardly hurt the film.

The movie is engaging, fun to watch, and paced very well. It never gets boring and you are always kept wondering what is going to happen next. The relationship between Craig’s character and Meaney’s character is really interesting. Maybe it’s the chemistry between the two actors but had it been a movie with just the two characters interacting with each other, it would have made for just as interesting a film.Daniel Craig was outstanding in this movie. He plays the lead role very well. You know that he’s not a good guy in terms of being an upstanding citizen but as drug dealers go, he’s not that bad. He does a great job at presenting his side of the story to the audience. Even though he’s one of the best at what he does, he doesn’t come off as arrogant. He approached the character in a way that wasn’t abrasive to the audience. Someone else may have been more cocky or jerkish but Craig enabled his character to be likeable while doing something that isn’t generally socially acceptable.Matthew Vaughn set forth to make a slick looking movie about the drug underworld and pulled it off successfully with Layer Cake. It’s not perfect but it is still an excellent movie. Despite it trying to be very hip, it doesn’t take itself too seriously and tells the story in a very entertaining way. This movie should be watched by anyone who is a fan of British films, crime dramas, or good films in general.

Layer Cake

Monday, 17 December 2012

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