The Layer Cake.

The Layer Cake" Movie Review.

 One of the great crime dramas is "The Layer Cake". I have watched this movie many times. It deals with drug dealers, schemes and shakedowns. Daniel Craig is a drug dealer with a plan to get in and get out of the business. 

 Craig is beholden to Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham); Price's henchman, Gene (Colm Meaney) does his courier work. Morty (George Harris) is a go between in the Gene and Craig relationship. The mid level cocaine dealer is cautious about how he distributes. He takes nothing for granted; keeps his people close and in a small circle. 

 Directed by Matthew Vaughn, the movie shows all parts of London, from Regents park, The Regency Cafe, Notting Hill, Grouvers Park and vast general areas of the city. It also gives us the many facets of the city as well. From the Cockneys to the well healed, we see the vast characters move about in a small circle of the drug world.

 Daniel Craig is in a untenable situation. He has been thrown into selling pills for Jimmy; he also is asked to find Eddie Temple's daughter. Eddie Temple (Michael Gambon) is at the top of the food chain. Even though we never really know what he does other than build buildings and look after Jimmy Price. 

 As the movie moves along, we get an unfolding of each character, how they all got here. We get flashbacks from the 60's when each of the main characters were young, this helps us put together the pieces toward the end result. We get an explanation of how the main actors end up the way they are… how there personalities are determined by experience. 

 The movie goes from really good to terrific when Eddie Temple enters the movie. Temple sheds a lot of light on Jimmy Price. Price up until then is just a finder to Craig's drug dealing. It turns out that he has a shadowy side to him; he is not trustworthy at all. He uses people to get ahead. Hit by a scam, Price must rebuild his wealth quickly. By Craig wanting to get out, Price's livelihood is threatened. 

 "The Layer Cake" has a great cast in Daniel Craig, Sienna Miller, Tom Hardy, Michael Gambon, Colm Meaney, Rab Affleck and Ivan Kaye. The plot is one that it is better to watch multiple times as you miss things the first few times watching it. 

 Written by J.J. Connolly, the movie gives insight to the London streets. The cinematography is so well done that you feel like your part of the London seen.Written by J.J. Connolly, the movie gives insight to the London streets. The cinematography is so well done that you feel like your part of the London seen. The phrases that are pure British, the street thugs that take care of business in a British way of doing things makes for an entertaining two hours. As Daniel Craig goes through the list of names at the end of the movie, you get a true sense of just how dangerous the London streets can be if you are born on the wrong side of the tracks.

In the end it is Eddie who you think comes out on top. But like so many twists and turns, not so much. It is typical of this movie that whenever you think someone is doing well, the tide changes quickly. I personally love movies like this one. You can never be passive or inattentive watching this movie as there is too much going on at all times. 

 Between the planners and the lunatics, "The Layer Cake" is full of thrills!

#Broadway Bob, No Bull With Raging Robert, Daniel Craig, Sienna Miller, Michael Gambon.