“Layer Cake” is a British gangster thriller both intriguing and by now a bit too familiar.
Uber-boss Michael Gambon unintentionally but nicely sums up the problems of the overstuffed genre with this slice of dialogue:
“Man sells soul to devil. Ends in tears. These things usually do.”
“Layer Cake” is one of those well-made, well-spoken, tightly wrapped crime stories that exist in a parallel universe. A place where police are unresponsive no matter how many bullets are fired in a neighborhood, a world where crime is a decades-long career and old salts plan for their retirement, a fantasy land where aging gangsters write the rules of their trade down in books as quickly as young guns tear them up.
Recent enjoyable movies from “Snatch” to “The Limey” to “Sexy Beast” to the “Ocean’s” duo explored this fertile ground and drained some of the nutrients. It’s no coincidence that first-time director Matthew Vaughn learned at the editing elbow of Guy Ritchie (“Snatch” and “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels”). Vaughn tosses in some new compost with relatively fresh face Daniel Craig, who lent his serious, craggy features to the role of poet Ted Hughes in “Sylvia.”
Largely, it works. Craig as the unnamed lead character tries to run his cocaine empire as pure business, believing he can avoid Gambon’s prediction of tears by associating with professionals and keeping the idiots and cokeheads at a safe distance. Craig brings to mind the serious cool of Steve
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McQueen, and others have noticed to the point of tossing his name out for the next James Bond.
“Layer Cake” wins its force with the aid of imperious lieutenants Colm Meaney and George Harris, who are veterans enough to crack jokes but mean enough to crack a few crackheads.
Vaughn mixes in the usual set of bewildering double-crosses and rival gangs. Craig must stretch outside his safe coke empire when the boss asks him to fence Ecstasy pills stolen from a supremely unforgiving Slav.
Other elements seem perfunctory – there must be a girl, and Sienna Miller’s Tammy character is as pure afterthought as she is eye candy. The dumber, drug-addled bad guys all seem to be channeling Joe Pesci’s unforgettable maniac in “Goodfellas.” As in many crime dramas with a sense of humor, Vaughn hides his indecipherable plot behind a quick joke or a brutal beating.
“Layer Cake” may be a worthy successor to a busy genre, but it is not an inventive inheritor. The next few sophisticated gangster films will need more justification, though “Layer Cake” boss Jimmy supplies the reasoning for why more will get made:
“You know why people like you can’t quit the biz?” he tells Craig. “Because you make too much money for people like me.”
Staff writer Michael Booth can be reached at 303-820-1686 or mbooth@denverpost.com.
“Layer Cake”
**½
R for violence, language, sexual content, and drug use|1 hour, 45 minutes|CRIME THRILLER|Directed by Matthew Vaughn; written by J.J. Connolly from his book; starring Daniel Craig, Colm Meaney, George Harris, Michael Gambon, Jamie Foreman and Kenneth Cranham |Opens today at the Mayan.
