Layer Cake

I was expecting good things and wasn't disappointed. It's been a while since I saw a good British gangster film. Layer Cake filled the void nicely. The acting was good, script was tight and the film was well cast. People I had not seen before were well used in their characters. The film starts out nice and simple but as it progreses it gets quite deep and twisted.

I was most surprised by Colm Meaney, I've ever only known him in Startrek.

But was superbly cast and had a quite menacing air about him.

LC has a few laughs for those with a more twisted sense of humour, it's not obvious comedy either and the film never plays for laughs. Very different to Lock Stock and Snatch. The director did well to move out from Guy Ritchie and make a serious film.

For people who think convoluted is clever. For people who think ensembling an assortment of gangster stereotypes is expansive.

Still, it mostly works. The acting is fine. Everything to do with "The Serbs" is ridiculous. One minute "The Serbs" are blood-thirsty, omniscient masters of crime. The next minute they are shoulder-shruggers who can't find anyone in London and fall for the oldest trick in the book.

But, given that the acting & style are the two best attributes of the film, can you imagine how bad the book must be?

"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. The film, based on J.J. Connelly's novel, is a study about the drug business by some ruthless people that are making a lot of money with their illegal commerce.

Point in case, the nameless hero of the story who figures he has played the game right and now is about to make an exit from the business. Little does he know that his friend Jimmy Price has other ideas for him to execute, no doubt driven by a desire to get him in trouble, as proves to be the case.

"Layer Cake" screams for a second viewing. In fact, it is probably a requirement because it will make things clearer to the viewer who might get lost in this story with so many twists and turns.

Daniel Craig is the best thing going in the movie. In fact, he kept reminding us of a young Steve McQueen because of his cool demeanor and how he seems to move effortlessly throughout the film. Kenneth Cranham, as Jimmy Price, is also another actor whose contribution is an asset in the film. Michael Gambon, leaner and tanner, is a cool drug lord who rules a vast empire. Colm Meaney also is excellent, as well as the extensive cast.

Look for the next film by Matthew Vaughn!

A fun thriller that combines fast-paced action and black humor in the purest Ritchie style , concerning a mobster who tries to leave his sinister job when a chain of events unfolds, involving betrayal , disorder , blackmail , deception , mayhem and killings . Stars XXX (Daniel Craig), he's a sharp-suited, throughly modern criminal. Impeccable in appearance, well dressed, always attentive, XXX seems like a serious and ruthless businessman. But in reality his profession consists of trafficking cocaine and ecstasy. Work with which he has managed to amass a great fortune while gaining respect from the English mafia. He now intends to retire from the business to enjoy the money he has earned. But his boss Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham) asks him for two last requests : locate the daughter of missing criminal Eddie Temple (Michael Gambon) and act as intermediary in the purchase of a huge stash of ecstasy.

Lavish production packed with action, intrigue, suspense, amusement and with overtones of ¨The Long Good Friday . Casting , plot twists , lots of action and attractive dialogue in Guy Ritchie style are spot on. The filmmaker Mathew Vaughan, producer and screenwriter of among other titles: ¨Lock and Stock¨ and ¨Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch¨by Guy Ritchie, makes his debut as a director and does it well, with this adaptation of the original novel of the same name by J. J. Connolly, who is also the screenwriter of the film. In the beginning, Vaughn was only going to intervene as producer, leaving the task to Ritchie, but when he rejected it Vaughn decided to direct. It stars the charismatic Daniel Craig (Casino Royale, Munich, The Jacket) as a young and successful cocaine dealer who by his boss in organized crime asks him to perform a couple of favors. As a elegant criminal, Craig dances around an ever-evolving cast of gangster types, attempting and failing to quit the messy drugs business into which he slips more and more at every tick of the clock. J. J. Connolly's novel and script gives Vaughn a credible host of roles to perform and the director refrains from caricature painting instead a distinct, muted vision of the London underworld in which the rising towes and grey skies of 'Canary Wharf' stress the onset of a new crime generation, fuelled by drugs, and Eastern European muscle. Peel away the elegant suits, the wit, the drugs, the chases, the complex intrigue, twists, turns and you're not left with with much else to chew on.

Daniel Craig is well accompanied by a good cast, such as: Michael Gambon as a powerful construction business player and gossip papers socialite and Kenneth Cranham as another ageing crimelord who has his own agenda. Along with Tom Hardy (Venom, Dunquerke, Inception), Jamie Foreman (Elizabeth, Sleepy Hollow), and the rising actress Sienna Miller (Alfie, Casanova). And adding others as Jamie Foreman, Sally Hawkins, Burn Gorman, George Harris, Colm Meaney, Marcel Iures, Dexter Fletcher and Ben Whishaw, all of them giving simpathetic interpretations.

This fun thriller that combines action-packed and drops of humor with Tarantinian dialogues was well directed by Matthew Vaughn. He's a good writer, producer (Guy Ritchie movies) and director, producing or shooting blockbuster films, such as: ¨Layer Cake¨ ¨X: First Class¨, ¨Stardust¨, ¨Kick ass¨, ¨Rocket man¨, ¨Silent night¨, ¨Tetris¨, ¨Blood night¨, among others. Rating: 7.5/10. Better than average. Well worth watching. The film will appeal to Daniel Craig fans and British thriller enthusiasts.

This is a clever drug dealer movie set in the UK. It starts out with the main character (XXXX) and narrator cheerfully extolling the virtues of the drug industry when you are careful and organised like he is. He is about to retire with a nice little fortune. Then it all starts to go wrong, one thing after another as layers are added to the plot.

Sometimes it seems as if the plot is too complex and there are two dangers, one of leaving the audience behind and two leaving gaping holes in the plot. Still the humour and action set pieces are enough to pull it through. It is not as good as Snatch or Lock, Stock etc but is original enough to stand on its own right. Worth a look.