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Rating of
3/4
"Layer Cake" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 03/05/2012
A cocaine distributor who enjoys a low profile finds himself hunted by Serbian drug dealers after doing business with an inept gang of crooks. Comparisons with Guy Ritchie are inevitable, and the rather overly broadly played "Duke" and his crew invite such comparisons, but the rest of the film is quite a more sophisticated and measured affair. Daniel Craig is at his suave best as the protagonist who sees drugs as a business rather than a criminal activity and this film is no doubt the reason why he came to the attention of the casting director of Casino Royale. The cast of seasoned British veterans, including Michael Gambon, Kenneth Cranham and Colm Meaney all give able support and the plot is cleverly written. Vaughan sometimes skirts close to gimmick territory but the direction is …
Rating of
3/4
Great Pecs, Tight Ass (I mean, Story)
Snake Sugarbaker - wrote on 12/11/2009
Layer Cake's neophyte director is Matthew Vaughn, whose filmmaking experience to date largely consists of producing Guy Ritchie's films (yes, even Swept Away). Vaughn doesn't steer too far from the neo-British gangster/heist film genre with this one, and considering I'm the only person under the age of 31 who didn't like Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, I wasn't expecting to enjoy Layer Cake. But I did.
Daniel Craig stars as an unnamed London dope distributor (he's credited as "XXXX") who's hoping to retire. His last assignment, of course, is a snafu waiting to happen--not only does he have to find the daughter of local businessman (Michael Gambon), but he also has to unload a shit-ton of ecstasy stolen from Serbian druglords. XXXX soon discovers that, for the most part, you can …
Rating of
1/4
Just Terrible
Franz Patrick - wrote on 12/31/2008
Without Daniel Craig and Burn Gorman, I probably would’ve been harsher on this movie. It’s the kind of picture that tries to achieve depth and complexity by purposely muddying up everything to the point of utter confusion. Instead, why not just tell a straight-forward, astute, entertaining gangster film about drugs? It’s hard for me to pinpoint what I like about the movie other than the two actors mentioned previously because there were so many factors that didn’t work for me. For instance, the writing is really weak, the gangsters aren’t all that threatening, the cinematography of the film looks like it’s made for television, and even the soundtrack is uninspired. At some points, Matthew Vaughn, the director, thought it was necessary to use flashbacks and narrations when, in …
