Layer Cake Review
by Stephen Bourne (ap291 AT FreeNet DOT Carleton DOT CA)July 31st, 2005
Layer Cake (2004)
Review by Stephen Bourne, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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Synopsis:
The fish head's round black farthing of an eye stared back at him (Daniel Craig) from the scarred cutting board as Gene (Colm Meaney) wrapped and tossed the small gutted body into the chest freezer's gullet, letting its door fall shut with an icy thud. "If you happen to kill someone," Gene warned, pointing his serious knife's bloody tip at him, "Never, ever, tell anyone." The room's hard flourescent lights flickered an omen. Gene never addressed him by name. Hardly anyone knew his name and he liked it that way. It was part of the rules: Work in a small team, stay clear of the London street pushers who sold his cocaine, pay everyone promptly and never be too greedy, and keep a low profile. At twenty-nine years old, the rules had served him well. Business was booming. It was the best time for him to retire. On top. Now, he was on the run because he hadn't stuck to the rules. His employer, notorious Gangster Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham), had sent his right hand man Gene to set up the meeting that had changed everything. The Stoke Park Private Golf Club meeting, dripping with crystal and gold behind thick oak doors, that had sent him on a wild goose chase to find Eddie's old pal, Mob boss Eddie Temple's (Michael Gambon), strung out daughter gone missing from rehab. The meeting, where Jimmy had also dropped the job of negotiating one million Dutch ecstasy pills from low life wannabe hustler Duke (Jamie Foreman) into his lap. Before Duke had suddenly disappeared. Before Temple had paid him a heart pounding visit and had set him straight about what was really going on. Before people started to turn up dead. Amsterdam had dispatched a killer named Dragan (Dragan Micanovic) to England to retrieve the pills. Duke and his hair triggered goons had stolen them. Morty (George Harris), his longtime friend and loyal enforcer, was also unhappy about it and had done a runner. Old grudges had emerged. The whole thing had gotten complicated. Deadly. He wasn't going to retire and still keep living if he didn't come up with a plan, fast. The pistol Gene had given him wasn't going to be enough, but it was a start. He hated guns. Never used one. Laying there in his comfortably stark flat's bedroom, hung over, exhausted, disoriented, with that arcane weapon's weight pressing its dark shape into the pillow beside him, a chill shattered down his spine as the thick accent on the other end of his phone introduced itself as Dragan.
Review:
Based on Brit novelist J.J. Connolly's acclaimed first book published in 2001, this incredibly engrossing and slightly Tarantino-esque 2004 Cockney Gangster yarn is oftentimes wonderfully gritty and hugely entertaining over-all. Connolly also penned the screenplay, and first-time director Matthew Vaughn ('Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' (1998) and 'Snatch' (2000) producer) capably helms this marvellous cast of heavies and hard cases torn from contemporary London's drug underworld. Daniel Craig ('Lara Croft: Tomb Raider' (2001), 'The Jacket' (2005)) is quickly becoming one of my favourite character actors, totally immersing himself as the unnamed anti-hero here while this hundred and five-minute story has him desperately keeping one step ahead of mercurial Old School crime lords Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham; 'Oliver!' (1968), 'Blackball' (2003)) and Eddie Temple (Michael Gambon; 'The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover' (1989), 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' (2004)), attempting to retire alive at thirty, burdened with quickly off-loading stolen Amsterdam contraband while using his network of contacts to locate Jimmy's missing daughter. This unabashedly grim and violent flick is literally packed with ultra-cool badness, fabulously realized by Craig's deftly versatile performance, as well as by his main co-stars George Harris ('Raiders of the Lost Ark' (1981), 'The Interpreter' (2005)), as personable sidekick and brutal thug Morty, and Colm Meaney's ('Under Siege' (1992), 'Intermission' (2003)) wily Price lieutenant Gene. 'Layer Cake' is also definitely a fairly demanding feature, in part due to its labyrinthian plot full of sudden twists and non-linear asides, but also because it tends to embellish upon some of these key players' background stories throughout - making most of them even more larger than life than how this extraordinary cast of talent present them. None of these guys are particularly likable, yet all of them captive your fascination and keep you wanting more. Awesome. One quibble - a minor one - is that Tammy, played by Sienna Miller ('High Speed' (2002), 'Alfie' (2004)), ends up being little more than a moderately exploited throw away love interest when that entire peripheral arc could have easily helped flesh out Craig's character's tortured ambivalence even further. You can't help but want to get inside this clever bloke's head. There's also a scene where film editor Jon Harris seems to have mixed up his prints - resulting in an unnecessarily confusing, "meanwhile, elsewhere" moment that could have been cut together with a lot more finesse - and the rather off-handed manner in which what Alfred Hitchcock used to call "maguffins" blatantly used here are neatly tied up with vague after thoughts in dialogue feel a bit lazy come the closing credits. However, any flaws that a paying audience might find are easily forgotten when compared to the immediate depth and electrifying power of what thumps out during this thoroughly entertaining piece of cinematic pulp. Cinematographer Ben Davis' camera work is sheer brilliance. Absolutely check out this incredibly satisfying, adult oriented Brit crime spree for an intelligently vicious time featuring a top notch cast.
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