Planning to retire and begin a new life, Mr. X (Daniel Craig, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider), a successful West End drug dealer, has been asked for one last favor: to negotiate the sale of one million hitsof Ecstasy. Unfortunately for Mr. X, the pills were stolen from a Serbian drug lord wholl cut offhis head if he sells them. And with a London crime czar (Michael Gambon, Open Range & The Insider)promising to retire him permanently if he doesnt, Mr. X may be rightfully concerned about his future. Nothing worth losing his head over.
As its title suggests, Layer Cake is a crime-thriller that cuts into several levels of its treacherous criminal underworld. The title is actually one characters definition of the drug-trade hierarchy, but its also an apt metaphor for the separate layers of deception, death and betrayal experienced by the films unnamed protagonist, a cocaine traffic middle-man played with smooth appeal by Daniel Craig (Casino Royale). Listed in the credits only as "XXXX," the character is trapped into doing a favour for his volatile boss, only to have tables turned by his bosss boss (Gosford Park) in a twisting plot involving a stolen shipment of Ecstasy, a missing girl, duplicitous dealers, murderous Serbian gangsters, and a variety of low-lifes with their own deadly agendas. As adapted by J.J. Connolly (from his own novel) and directed by Matthew Vaughan (who earned his genre chops as producer of Guy Ritchies Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch), Layer Cake improves upon those earlier British gangland hits with assured pacing, intelligent plotting, and an admirable emphasis on plot-moving dialogue over routine action. Sure, its violent (thats to be expected) and not always involving, but its smarter than most thrillers, and Vaughans directorial debut has a confident style thats flashy without being flamboyant. This could be the start of an impressive career. --Jeff Shannon