Layer Cake (2004)

John Chard April 27, 2015

★ 9/10

I'm not a gangster, just a businessman. And my commodity happens to be cocaine. With a considerable amount of cash saved from his, ahem, dealings. A London drug dealer is all set to retire abroad and start a new life. However his mob boss Jimmy Price has two jobs for him to do immediately... Layer Cake is directed by Matthew Vaughn. Vaughn is more well known as Guy Ritchie's producer on his early British gangster genre forays. Suffice to say he had some insight into what made those films {Snatch et al} hugely popular with the watching British public. How pleasing it is then to say that Vaughn, by showing restraint and an unfussy approach, has crafted a film that's more than equal to the best of Britain gangster faves, and actually sets new parameters for toning a film. By focusing more on mood and atmosphere over bombastic scenarios, Vaughn, aided by a superlative Daniel Craig as t…

r96sk May 25, 2024

★ 10/10

Absolutely tremendous! I haven't got much (edit: five paragraphs later...) to say about 'Layer Cake', but that's only because it's simply one of those movies that is undeniably outstanding, to the point it's plain and simple that it requires little explanation. I had heard this bandied about down the years as being arguably Daniel Craig's best, though that is all that I knew about it. What a film! I knew it was one of my favourites because I got goosebumps as soon as the credits rolled as I processed it and that only happens for the movies I adore. Going back to Craig, that man is superb in this, definitely one of the best performances of his that I've seen - up there with 'Knives Out'. That's also saying something, given his other stellar stint as that spy geezer. Michael Gambon is, though, the one I enjoyed most. I'm already a big fan of his, though here he is also a notch abo…