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Review
by
Brandon Tenold
Film:7
:
DVD:6
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| Layer
Cake,
a slickly done British crime film, has become more notable in
recent years for featuring a pre-James Bond Daniel Craig in the
lead role, as well as being the first feature of director Matthew
Vaughn, who would later go on to direct films like Stardust,
Kick-Ass and X-Men:
First Class. Despite gaining most of its notability for
the talent involved, it does have its charms, even if it doesn't
quite succeed in rising to the top of the British gangster movie
heap. |
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Craig,
who also narrates the film, is never named in the movie and is
listed in the credits simply as "XXXX". Mr. X is a successful
cocaine distributor in London who has stayed out of trouble by
keeping his profile low and his hands clean of any excessive behavior.
As he says in the opening narration, know your customers, pay
your suppliers on time, never get too greedy and avoid "loud,
attention-seeking wannabe gangsters" at all costs. Another rule
he lays out is "quit while you're ahead", and having made all
the money he needs, he plans on quietly leaving the business behind.
However, a meeting with his supplier, Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham)
throws a monkey wrench into X's retirement plans. Jimmy asks X
to track down Charlie, the drug-addicted daughter of Jimmy's associate
and another powerful figure in the drug world, Eddie Temple (Michael
Gambon), who has disappeared along with her boyfriend. In addition
to this, Jimmy also asks X to meet with and purchase one million
tablets of Ecstasy from a loudmouthed, dimwitted wannabe gangster
known as The Duke (Jamie Forman). What X doesn't know is that
The Duke stole the Ecstasy tablets from a vicious Serbian gang
in Amsterdam, and the Serbs are not about to let the pills go.
While looking for Charlie, X meets Tammy (Sienna Miller), the
beautiful but bored girlfriend of the Duke's nephew Sidney (Ben
Whishaw), who almost immediately begins hitting on him. As X attempts
to accomplish the tasks Jimmy has asked of him, he begins to learn
that a man in his line of work does not leave his position easily,
as he makes far too much money for other people higher up for
them to simply let him go. As if this weren't enough, the Serbs
now blame X for their stolen Ecstasy pills and have hired an assassin
known as Dragan to take him out. As Gambon's Eddie Temple tells
X, "Welcome to the layer cake, son." |
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Written
by J.J. Connolly and adapted from his own novel of the same name,
Layer Cake is a British crime film
in the vein of Guy Ritchie's forays into the genre like Lock,
Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch.
This is no coincidence, as Matthew Vaughn was a producer on both
of those films. Indeed, Ritchie was originally slated to direct
this film before Vaughn ultimately took over. While there are
similarities between Vaughn and Ritchie's work (slick camerawork,
a cool soundtrack, copious use of the F-word, a Byzantine plot
with several twists and double crosses) Layer
Cake has much more restrained camerawork and editing than
Ritchie's films; the characters and situations are a lot less
outrageous. This serves to make the film more grounded and realistic
than Lock, Stock and Snatch,
but also dulls the impact somewhat, with less humor, a slower
pace and less memorable characters. The big standout in the cast
is of course Craig, who was picked to play James Bond shortly
after Layer Cake was released, and
it's easy to see why. He's calm, cool and collected, yet with
a layer of toughness that makes it seem like he can handle himself
in almost any situation, even as the odds get increasingly stacked
against him. Sienna Miller has an underwritten role that doesn't
require her to do much more than look good in a black dress, but
she certainly accomplishes that feat. While Layer
Cake is full of talented actors who generally go a great
job in their roles, you probably won't be finding yourself quoting
this film as much as Ritchie's wilder and more stylized looks
at the British underworld. Still, it's a good choice if you're
looking for a more 'mature' British gangster film, although more
mature doesn't always mean more fun. |
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| This
is Sony's Region 1 release from 2005, still in print nearly six
years on (and which can be had rather cheaply).
The 2.40:1 anamorphic transfer looks generally good, with the
exaggerated and unnatural colors being a stylistic choice of the
filmmaker's rather than a result of the transfer. There are some
flaws however, such as bits of aliasing and some jitter during
camera moves, though they're generally pretty minor. Audio is
in English dolby 5.1 surround and French dolby 2.0 surround. While
I can't speak for the French audio track, the English track seems
a bit unbalanced, with the dialogue mixed too low in relation
to the music and things like gunshots. I realize gunshots are
supposed to be loud, but if you find yourself reaching for the
remote to adjust the volume several times during a movie, things
are a bit off. |
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With
regards to extras, Matthew Vaughn and J.J. Connolly contribute
a laid-back but quite informative commentary that offers some
interesting tidbits, like how a lollipop that was changing colors
from shot to shot had to be color-corrected in post because Vaughn,
being color blind, didn't notice it on set. There are several
deleted scenes with optional commentary. While some of them are
interesting, for the most part it's pretty obvious why they were
cut. The alternate endings also make it clear why they weren't
used. There's a short making of piece that's very promotional
in nature and doesn't offer much of interest. The real meat is
a half hour long Q&A with Vaughn and Daniel Craig where they share
their thoughts on making the film. Rounding out the set are some
storyboard comparisons, a poster gallery and some trailers. Overall
a pretty solid set of extras and a decent dvd, but it loses points
for the problematic audio mix. (This title is also available in
a budget-priced 2007 Blu-ray
edition.) 4/23/11 |
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