Rent Layer Cake (2004)

real life - Layer Cake review by CP Customer

such a true picture of the world of drugs today. no one is invincible. excellent

An interesting, funny & brutal look at drug dealing with an excellent Daniel Craig - Layer Cake review by TB

Released just before he was announced as James Bond, this was Daniel Craig's most high profile role. As the unnamed protagonist, he is an extremely successful & clever drug dealer who is wanting to cash out and leave the business behind him. He is also in many ways an anti-gangster, in terms of his deliberate avoidance of guns and flashing his cash, preferring instead to keep a very low profile.

One day at what is effectively a farewell lunch, his boss Jimmy Price gives him a task: find the wayward daughter of a friend of his. Despite no detection history, the protagonist agrees to search for her. This then kicks off a series events, involving double-crosses, extreme violence and psychotic gangsters. I did find Jamie Foreman's The Duke character extremely funny and a great satire of what the average person thinks a drug dealer looks like & how those idiots think they should behave.

The whole film is very well shot, acted and also has a great soundtrack. Matthew Vaughan, here making his directing debut, shows incredible confidence & mastery of his art.

The cast are uniformly great, especially Michael Gambon, who almost chews the scenery around him. And Craig is at the centre, owning the narrative. There is even a cheeky Bond-ish reference for your enjoyment.

Highly recommended

Great Modern British Crime Film - Layer Cake review by GI

Originally to be directed by Guy Ritchie this still has the hallmarks of the style of British crime film he laid down in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1999). But director Matthew Vaughn gave this his own particular vision and the end result is a smooth, humorous and grittily realistic London crime drama that really rocks. A plot full of twists and turns and some brilliantly conceived characters not least the unnamed main character played by Daniel Craig who not only secured the James Bond role on the back of his performance here but he does a small Bond homage in the film which even in hindsight is very funny. Aided by a cast including Colm Meaney, Sienna Miller, Ben Wishaw, Tom Hardy and others who have all gone onto bigger and better things. Craig is a sophisticated drug dealer operating at the top of the business where he works for an uncouth crime boss (Kenneth Cranham). He survives in the violent world by following some simple rules and has a plan to get out of the business. But when the boss asks him for two favours, to find the daughter of a friend and to find a buyer for a large consignment of ecstasy pills, his plans are thrown into disarray and he is forced to ignore his rules! This is a great film and deserves to be recognised as one of the best of the new style of modern, British crime films.