I love a good British gangster film. Guy Ritchie innovated the genre, and paved the way for other films and filmmakers to come after him.
Matthew Vaughn, who produced both Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2001), made his directorial debut with 2004's Layer Cake, and he seems to have learned a thing or two from his work with Ritchie.
I picked up Layer Cake the same way I picked up a lot of the films I watched in college: off the sale rack at Blockbuster, with an armload of other DVDs. I loved it then.
But does it hold up, now?
I. What is It?
Daniel Craig stars as a nameless cocaine dealer who is days away from walking away from the drug game. But he is pulled back in at the last minute, and what seemed like a simple deal spirals wildly out of control. Along the way he will rub shoulders with a variety of kooky British underworld denizens, and a Serbian hitman. Will he make his grand escape? Or will he wind up another body with a bullet in its head?II. Stylish
Vaughn's visual style echoes Ritchie's without ever directly stealing from him or feeling like a rip-off. Ben Davis' camera is restless: either panning elegantly across the scenery, or slow zooming on the characters, the camera very rarely stays still. It makes the film feel alive and dynamic. Davis also has a knack for composing shots, layering his figures throughout the frame in thoughtful ways.
III. Labyrinthine
J.J. Connolly's script, from his own novel, is a wonderful neo-noir gangster flick with more twists and turns than a Slinky. As with Guy Ritchie before them, Vaughn and Connolly wisely lay out all of the pieces on the board and pay of each and every one. You might well get whiplash when the film heads into its third act, as back-stabbings and double-crossings and plots-within-plots start zipping this way and that. But they aren't cheaply done, and each one feels fun and earned.
It's a balancing act, and, with a runtime of just 105 minutes, Vaughn manages to keep the film driving forward at a breakneak pace, without ever getting lost in the weeds.
I do think that the Sienna Miller subplot is unnecessary. She exists in this film as eye candy, and little more. Don't get me wrong: as far as eye candy goes, you can do little better than Sienna Miller. But her plot doesn't serve the film, and could easily have shaved ten minutes from the runtime, make the film leaner and meaner.
Later, a fun mash-up of Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out of My Head," and New Order's "Blue Monday" livens up a club scene.
Along with Ilan Eshkeri and Lisa Gerrard's techno-laced mid-aughts score, the soundtrack, here, is a winner.
SPOILERS: So Daniel Craig's character, billed as XXXX, is literally on his way out of the club. He is walking away from the titular criminal layer cake. And then, he is shot by Ben Wishaw's (wonderful) shitheel, Sidney. The film closes on Craig writhing on the steps of the country club, chest-shot, bleeding out.
Now, the film doesn't make it exactly clear that he dies, which is what I take umbrage with. If the point is that one can never get out of the game, give him a headshot. Making his death definitive works, because, if he had stayed in the meeting, stayed in the layer cake, he might have survived this assassination attempt. But walking away is literally what killed him.
If you want him to walk away from it, being the cleverest one in the room, let the man walk. The film still makes sense, and works.
But having him shot, and closing on him bleeding out, without telling us directly if he dies is a bit cheeky. Especially when it feels like the ending comes as a tacked-on pay-off to Sidney's character. In a film filled with twists and turns, I thought this one was one twist too many. END SPOILERS
It's a balancing act, and, with a runtime of just 105 minutes, Vaughn manages to keep the film driving forward at a breakneak pace, without ever getting lost in the weeds.
I do think that the Sienna Miller subplot is unnecessary. She exists in this film as eye candy, and little more. Don't get me wrong: as far as eye candy goes, you can do little better than Sienna Miller. But her plot doesn't serve the film, and could easily have shaved ten minutes from the runtime, make the film leaner and meaner.
IV. Needle Drops Do a Film Good
Vaughn peppers in pop tunes for wonderful effect throughout the film. My favorite, of course, if the use of Duran Duran's "Ordinary World." The song starts playing as Morty (George Harris (Kingsley Shacklebolt, himself)) viciously beats an old colleague near to death in a London cafe. The use of POV as Morty brutally kicks the fallen man, and the way the audio crashes in and out, really sell the violence. And the juxtaposition of Duran Duran's dulcet tones make the entire scene both giddy fun and shudder-inducingly violent.Later, a fun mash-up of Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out of My Head," and New Order's "Blue Monday" livens up a club scene.
Along with Ilan Eshkeri and Lisa Gerrard's techno-laced mid-aughts score, the soundtrack, here, is a winner.
V. Who's Who
Daniel Craig puts his icy baby blues and his Devil-may-care roguish charm on full display. Colm Meaney does wonderful work as a dangerous lieutenant. And Michael Gambon plays a sinister real-estate magnate who runs in the criminal underworld, always a step or two ahead of the competition. The film sports top-notch lead talent, and a rogue's gallery of "Oh-It's-That-Guys!" of British cinema. Everyone here knows what film they're in, and play their roles to the hilt.VI. Not Hot on the Ending
I understand why the ending to this movie makes thematic sense. It should work. I just wasn't so hot on it. Spoilers to follow, so, like... skip to the next section if you want to watch this one virgin.
* * *
SPOILERS: So Daniel Craig's character, billed as XXXX, is literally on his way out of the club. He is walking away from the titular criminal layer cake. And then, he is shot by Ben Wishaw's (wonderful) shitheel, Sidney. The film closes on Craig writhing on the steps of the country club, chest-shot, bleeding out.
Now, the film doesn't make it exactly clear that he dies, which is what I take umbrage with. If the point is that one can never get out of the game, give him a headshot. Making his death definitive works, because, if he had stayed in the meeting, stayed in the layer cake, he might have survived this assassination attempt. But walking away is literally what killed him.
If you want him to walk away from it, being the cleverest one in the room, let the man walk. The film still makes sense, and works.
But having him shot, and closing on him bleeding out, without telling us directly if he dies is a bit cheeky. Especially when it feels like the ending comes as a tacked-on pay-off to Sidney's character. In a film filled with twists and turns, I thought this one was one twist too many. END SPOILERS
* * *
VII. Should You Watch It?
Miscellany
- The film was made on a budget of 4 million British pounds. It's world gross would reach over $11 million.- This was the role that convinced Barbara Broccoli that Craig could pull off James Bond.
- Guy Ritchie was originally slated to direct this film (no surprise, there), but had to drop out due to prior commitments.
- The word "fuck" is used 210 times.
- The first draft of the screenplay was 408 pages long.
- The original ending had XXXX riding off into the sunset in a sports car. This was the ending that the studio wanted. Vaughn secretly filmed the sequence where Sidney shoots XXXX and, after it was well-received, inserted it into the film.
- J.J. Connolly wrote a sequel, Viva La Madness, and it was optioned as a TV show, starring Jason Stathem. I can't find much about the show, other than stories about its development, so I must assume that it either never made it past the pilot stage, or was unsuccessful. Sad.
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