Layer Cake: Review By ejk1

As I went through my scant Blu-Ray collection looking for some fine entertainment to end my night, I found Layer Cake, a 2004 British film about the underground London drug trade. I had a feeling early on that I was going to be treated to something great. Daniel Craig, Michael Gambon, and Colm Meaney acting, Matthew Vaughn directing, Siena Miller's presence, and above all, J.J. Connolly, who wrote the novel the film was based on, also wrote the screenplay. While I have yet to read the book, it is my belief that any novelist worth his salt would never gut his own book if he was allowed to write the screenplay as well. I may be wrong about some, but after watching Layer Cake, I am convinced that Connolly did his book justice.

We follow a man simply titled X, played by Daniel Craig. His name is never known throughout the film; it's a gimmick for sure, yet it is effective. To be honest, I didn't even notice it after a short time, and only at the end of the film does one truly remember that X's name is not revealed (and boy oh boy, what an ending. But I digress...). Anyways, X begins by telling the audience that he is in the drug trade, and gives a little lesson on the ins and outs, how one should act, and most importantly, what one should not do (NO YELLOW RANGE ROVERS!!!). X is talking with his crew when Gene (Colm Meaney) appears and tells X that Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham), the big boss, wants to see them. A little nervous, X and his de facto bodyguard Morty (George Harris) go to the club where Jimmy conducts business. It is here that Jimmy assigns to jobs to X: one is to find the daughter of his friend Eddie Temple (Michael Gambon), who has left rehab with her boyfriend and is now carousing on a drug binge. Although X protests, Jimmy orders him to handle the situation. The second bit of business entails selling one million pills of ecstasy, which were stolen by a gang of simpleton thugs led by The Duke (Jamie Foreman). It is here that X's life begins to rollercoaster. Obviously, the people that The Duke stole the pills from were not just going to say, "aww, shucks" and write off the loss. Hell no. They are Serbian mobsters/war criminals. They send a shady figure called Dragan to regain their property and even exact revenge. While all of this craziness is going on in X's world, he meets the woman of his dreams in the form of Tammy (Siena Miller), who happens to be the girlfriend of Sydney (Ben Whishaw), The Duke's moronic nephew. What occurs throughout is X's struggle to extricate himself from the dangerous life he has led and find some peace, and may be love with Tammy.

X is the precursor to Daniel Craig's turn as James Bond. It is in this role that Craig proved that he had the acting chops and physicality to be the dashing super-spy. He is tremendous, displaying every emotion perfectly at the right moment. A moment of particular interest is the scene where X realizes that he has been betrayed, and takes a drastic action to rectify the situation. The audience is then able to witness the aftermath, and the emotional and physical guilt that X is wracked with. Again, I go back to Connolly writing the script. If anyone else wrote the script, these poignant scenes may have been cut out, as they don't really move the plot along. But they give the character of X greater depth, which Connolly decided was important. He trusted that Craig's ability would not let the moment fall flat. In my opinion, Connolly's trust was rewarded, as Craig shone brightly during this dark period of X's life.

The other performances were well done as well. As Morty, George Harris was very good as a no-nonsense type of guy. He had a seriousness that seemed imbedded in him, although in one scene he did make me laugh because he felt "left out." As Gene, Colm Meaney was superb. Somewhat a mentor, somewhat the most dangerous guy on the screen, he gave X plenty of great advice, but was more than willing to take anyone down a peg if they were out of line. Meaney has been a favorite of mine since Star Trek: The Next Generation and DS9 (as Chief O'Brien). Seeing him in movies always makes me happy, and watching him succeed even more so. Another performance of note is by Michael Gambon, sans Dumbledore's beard and wizarding hat. As Eddie Temple, he is somewhat of a teacher and skinflint. Temple is one thing though: distrusting. It is this distrust that helps X find out part of the truth behind why Jimmy chose him to find Temple's daughter. And, for all of you Inception and TDKR fans, Tom Hardy can be found playing a small role as X's main chemist Clarkie. Hardy's suaveness can be seen even here in this minor performance.

Now, I know some people want to know about Sienna Miller's performance, and it was good, but very limited. She was only in a few scenes, but Miller excelled in them. Let's be honest, she would make the perfect Bond Girl. It's also my belief that she would have made the perfect Emma Frost (better than January Jones, anyways), and should be in the running for any role that requires a sexy actress that can actually act. Since I first saw her on the short-lived summer TV show Keen Eddie (with Mark Valley--that was some good TV, people), I have been a fan. She was the only bright spot of G.I. Joe, even though the way her character was written is a total disgrace to the source material. Regardless, Miller's got the goods; movie execs need to recognize that fact before putting talentless girls with pretty faces on-screen.

Matthew Vaughn directed this film excellently. As much as Layer Cake was a springboard for Craig, it was equally so for Vaughn. Layer Cake is Vaughn's debut as a director, and he succeeded mightily. His ability to create this seedy underworld of London with such grace and ease and find a way to get the most out of every actor and every scene has allowed Vaughn to carve a good niche in Hollywood. His success with Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class have only solidified his position. I cannot wait to see what Vaughn has up his sleeve next; hell, if Rodriguez doesn't want to do Sin City 2, I say offer it to Vaughn. He's done a great job with the criminal underworld, and he's done a very well with comic adaptations. I wouldn't mind seeing what he could do with the two genres combined.

To sum up, Layer Cake is an excellent film. Everyone attached performs exceptionally well, and a few have shot up to superstardom because of this movie. Connolly wrote a fantastic script that hopefully does justice to his book; I'll let you know when I finally get around to reading Layer Cake, and seeing how it compares. So if you haven't seen Layer Cake, I highly recommend doing so. And if you have, without revealing any details, please answer this question: How awesome was that ending?! To me, it was simply amazing.