Layer Cake

Plot Summary

A cocaine dealer (Daniel Craig) is carefully planning his retirement from his illegal trade. He has managed to keep a low profile and has stayed out of trouble. Bit by bit he has lodged his money into the bank and he almost has enough saved to escape the business. His crime boss has another job for him and asks the cocaine dealer to find the daughter of a friend. The daughter is a drug addict who has run away from rehab and the cocaine dealer (the dealer is never actually named in the movie although he is the central character) is reluctant to get involved. His boss, Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham), is not the type of man you say 'no' to. Not if you what to stay in one piece! Things get very complicated when some drug deals go wrong and the cocaine dealer gets caught up in the dangerous underworld of drug-deals, double cross and murder...

Review

This gritty British gangster thriller is directed by Matthew Vaughan who produced Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and Snatch. There are similarities between the movies and not surprisingly Layer Cake is full of dodgy characters. Not the kind of guys you'd buy a second hand car from! London's crime gangs and drug dealers produce some very dangerous characters and the movie can be grim and violent at times. The humour in the movie is definitely on the dark side. 

Because of a clever and intriguing story, the movie is not just another 'drug-deal-goes-sour' movie. The story twists and turns and there are enough subplots intertwined with the main storyline to keep you guessing and keep things interesting. It manages to keep track of all the elements of the story and the many characters, although it does wrap things up a little quickly at the end.

There are loads of characters in the movie and a good cast has been gathered to play the parts. Daniel Craig plays his part well as the main character, a London cocaine dealer. He's more intelligent than most of his fellow dealers and doesn't draw attention to himself or get too greedy. Interestingly his character is never actually named in the movie.

There is good support from Michael Gambon and Kenneth Cranham as crime bosses and also from Colm Meaney and Tom Hardy. Colm Meaney plays an ageing gangster who has seen it all. He's hard and ruthless, going about his gangster business like someone just doing the shopping! The dialogue in the movie is very good but occasionally it comes across as a little forced rather that natural.

Lasting Thought: For years and years criminals have tried to find ways to rob money out of banks. How they try to finds ways of legitimising their ill-gotten-gains and get money into the bank! Anyone who has opened a bank account recently will appreciate this!

Bottom Line: Gritty gangster thriller with a good story that is clever enough to make it far better than most movies of this type.

Reviewed by Niall Quinn, Premier Movie Reviews 2004.

RELATED MOVIE REVIEWS:  DANIEL CRAIG:  Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,  Road To Perdition.  COLM MEANEY:  Intermission.  MICHAEL GAMBON:  Gosford Park,  Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban.  TOM HARDY:  Star Trek Nemesis.

Genre: Gangster Thriller

Certificate: 18's

Director: Matthew Vaughan

~ Main Cast ~

Daniel Craig

Michael Gambon

Colm Meaney

Tom Hardy

Jamie Foreman

Kenneth Cranham

RATING

WORTH A WATCH