Great Film: Layer Cake
Ultra Cool Classic
Seven years ago, I sat in a movie theatre with little to no
expectations for the viewing of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, a
British crime/comedy/drama from producer Michael Vaughn. I had never
heard of the director (the future Mr. Madonna, Guy Ritchie) and there
wasn't a single cast member that I could say I had seen before.
A few years later, Vaughn was back producing another Guy Ritchie film
that put American actors Brad Pitt, Benicio Del Toro and Dennis Farnia
amongst all the chaos in the British underground in Snatch.
Despite the low fanfare (they have since become cult hits), both movies
were refreshingly fun flicks that ended up on my top ten lists in their
respective years of release.
Now, five years since Snatch made a splash on North American soil,
producer Michael Vaughn is back, this time behind the lens, for the new
crime thriller, Layer Cake.
Layer Cake follows a cocaine dealer without a name played by Daniel
Craig who is working towards his retirement from the underground biz.
He doesn't see himself as a bad man. In fact, his voice over reveals
that he is not a gangster. He's a business man. However, if Carlito's
Way taught us anything it is that escape from a lifetime in the seedy
crime world is not easy to dissolve oneself of.
And things start to go amok immediately when crime boss Jimmy Price
(Kenneth Cranham) forcefully delegates the task of finding the lost
daughter of an old powerful friend to our protagonist. Reluctantly, but
without option, the job is accepted and this begins the wicked spiral
deeper into the drug and criminal underworld than he had ever hoped to
venture.
Soon, there will be a drug trade gone bad, an introduction to a
character named Dragon who lops off the heads of his victims, friends
who will both have a drink with you and kick the living life out of
your body in the same afternoon and enough crosses, double crosses and
screw-you's to keep you riveted to the screen.
Much like Lock, Stock and Snatch, there are enough characters in Layer
Cake to keep your head spinning. Vaughn doesn't try and spell things
out for the audience and throws the kitchen sink at our small brains
leaving it up the viewer to try and keep pace. Probably requiring a
repeat viewing (if for no other reason that to try and understand what
is being said under the cover of some very strong English accents),
Layer Cake veers from the traditional cookie cutter type drug/crime
caper by delivering a complex mix of violence and drama that is
anything but packaged with a bow on top.
By the time we are introduced to yet another group of players, headed
brilliantly by the always-reliable Michael Gambon, you may need a
second to collect your senses and figure out which end is up. It was
like watching Memento except with more lively characters and a story
that's actually worth your involvement.
I was surprised to learn that this was Michael Vaughn's directorial
debut. As a novice he was able to weave a complex web of multiple
stories like a seasoned veteran in what I can only suspect to be a more
realistic depiction of hit men and drug lords than anything Bad Boys
waved in our faces a few years back.
Lacking the dark humor of Lock, Stock and Snatch, Layer Cake is more
like Goodfellas and to some extent Reservoir Dogs than its two closest
relatives (an ass kicking scene to Duran Duran's Ordinary World was
reminiscent of Dogs' Stuck in the Middle With You). It's a film
composed with characters that are so unique and interesting, yet
violent and criminal that you don't know who to root for. Case in
point, Gene played by Star Trek veteran Colm Meany. As Jimmy Price's
right hand man, Gene is a gangster that wouldn't hesitate to put a
bullet in your brain if so ordered, but portrayed as a human being who
is just doing what he is told to survive in a world to which he is too
accustomed. He is maybe the most charismatic bad guy since Vincent Vega
in Pulp Fiction.
Rumor in selected Trades is that Daniel Craig is the frontrunner for
the Bond franchise if Pierce Brosnan decides to jump ship, and his
performance in Layer Cake proves that he is up to the task. His steely
blue eyes and Steve McQueen type looks can ensure that we haven't seen
the last of him, and if we are lucky, in his next film his character
will get a name.
Layer Cake is definitely not for all types. If you have problems
following CSI, then this movie is not for you. But for those of you who
do stick around through the reveals and character developments, I can
assure you that the payoff is worth the investment. Layer Cake will be
one of those films that in a few years, men will be talking about
around the work water-cooler, using words like 'ultra-cool' and maybe
even 'classic'.
www.gregsrants.com
Cast
- Gene played by Colm Meaney
- XXXX played by Daniel Craig
- Clarkie played by Tom Hardy
- Duke played by Jamie Foreman
- Slasher played by Sally Hawkins
- Gazza played by Burn Gorman
- Nobby played by Brinley Green
