Layer Cake (2004)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Matthew Vaughn

Writers:

J.J. Connolly (screenplay)
J.J. Connolly (novel)

Release Date:

1 October 2004 (UK)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

A successful cocaine dealer gets two tough assignments from his boss on the eve of his planned early retirement.

Plot Keywords:

Ecstasy | Cocaine | Drugs | Pills | Gangster

Awards:

3 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Daniel Craig	...	XXXX
Tom Hardy	...	Clarkie
Jamie Foreman	...	Duke
Sally Hawkins	...	Slasher
Burn Gorman	...	Gazza
Brinley Green	...	Nobby
George Harris	...	Morty
Tamer Hassan	...	Terry
Colm Meaney	...	Gene
Marcel Iures	...	Slavo
Francis Magee	...	Paul the Boatman
Dimitri Andreas	...	Angelo
Kenneth Cranham	...	Jimmy Price
Garry Tubbs	...	Brian
Nathalie Lunghi	...	Charlie

Also Known As:

L4yer Cake (Ireland: English title) (DVD box title) (UK) (DVD box title) (USA) (DVD box title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong brutal violence, sexuality, nudity, pervasive language and drug use.

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | Romanian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS (US prints) | DTS

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Argentina:16 | USA:R (certificate #40603) | South Korea:18 | Malaysia:18PL (DVD) | Japan:R-15 | Portugal:M/16 | Netherlands:16 | Australia:MA | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia/Ontario) | Czech Republic:15 | Germany:16 | Ireland:18 | Italy:T | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:15 | Singapore:M18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | Finland:K-15 | France:-12 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Brazil:18

Filming Locations:

1 West India Quay, Isle of Dogs, London, England, UK

Company:

Sony Pictures Classics

Trivia:

The country club where XXXX and Morty meet Jimmy in the beginning of the film is the same location as the golf club where James Bond plays a match with Auric Goldfinger in Goldfinger (1964).

Goofs:

Continuity: When XXXX wakes up in the morning before Dragan's first phone call to him, you can see he moves a pillow revealing the gun, in the next shot the gun is facing the opposite direction.

Quotes:

[first lines]
XXXX: When I was born, the world was a far simpler place. It was all just cops and robbers.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Top Gear: (2006-06-04)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

Gimme Shelter

Layers of Goodness

I was really looking forward to seeing Matthew Vaughn's turn at directing a film and what better genre to see him make his debut in than the British gangster genre especially after his roles in the fabulous 'Lock,Stock...' and 'Snatch' even though they were Guy Ritchie's.

Fans of those two movies may notice a few references in this one, most notably two of the actors used and some of the dialogue sounded fairly similar to a few lines out of 'Lock, Stock' but they didn't detract from the films quality. For a while, I thought I was watching 'Snatch' from a few years ago as the pace and the amount of characters that were piling up in the film was at times overwhelming. This may be the downside to many people's opinion of the film but I could cope. I realized the main characters, 'got to know them', and focused very much on them. Characters like 'The Duke' and 'Morty'; that way, I wasn't totally confused at first sight.

The acting was good and there are moments which creep along silently that will have you on the edge of your seat. This included the factory in Amsterdam being robbed by 'The Duke' and his cronies as well as the scene during which our main character: 'XXXX' is pinned down in a park by a psychopathic Eastern European hit-man whilst on the phone to him.

The acting is faultless and flows all the way through. When there are scenes which perhaps do go on longer than you'd like them to, the acting and dialogue just manage to keep them going to the end. The humour element is also there as I expected it would be. Most of the time they're 'chuckle to yourself' moments but there are two or three moments where you'll really find something funny and want to laugh out loud.

Overall, it was great fun and a damn good film. I think it can just about stand it's self up there with Ritchie's two acts of brilliance as a result.

I think you can tell; I enjoyed my piece.........