Sleek, well dressed and polite, our unnamed hero (Daniel Craig) is a consummate professional. Treating cocaine and ecstasy like any other commodity, he has made a fortune for himself by keeping his hands clean and staying under the radar. Having made the decision to retire, his aim is to break free from the world of crime, drugs and violence and live a simple, quiet life with the money he has amassed. But before this can happen, crime boss Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham) wants two last favors from him. First, he must track down the missing drug addict daughter of powerful criminal Eddie Temple (Michael Gambon). Second, he must negotiate the sale of a huge shipment of ecstacy with The Duke (Jamie Foreman), a loose cannon petty crook playing well out of his league. What should be routine transaction is anything but and nothing goes according to plan. Instead, duplicity and hidden alliances become the order of the day, in a struggle for power that reaches from the crack dens of London to the highest ranks of British society. Quickly he learns he is part of a machine much greater than he imagined, and getting out won't be quite as easy as getting in.

If there is one thing that Matthew Vaughn can do and does do with ease is make a great gangster and crime movie. In his directorial debut after producing such great gangster movies as Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels he once again delivers a fast paced, highly intelligent movie about the underbelly of society. The thing about Vaughn’s movies is they always have a super cool style as well as an intense and rich story with great characters as a finishing touch. The movies are always highly British, and sometimes they can be hard to understand, but heck that’s almost a part of his style. But it’s the characters that are always the highlight of his films, as he not only has some of the most interesting characters but he also takes the time to develop them and give them a life of their own. Layer Cake is just that it is a layer cake of many depths and different stories that are all tied together and one that keeps you glued to the screen trying to figure out what’s going to happen next.

I am not really that familiar with Daniel Craig but he does a superb job in the movie. He is cool, he is collected and he just fills the role of the smart, always thinking gangster. The movie being very British is helped out by the fact that many of the actors aren’t that familiar all the while putting in topnotch performances. Daniel Craig wasn’t the only one who put in a stellar performance though as Colm Meaney and Jamie Foreman round out the cast quite well. Colm Meaney is one of the better unknown actors, he is one of the actors that when you watch his movies you can’t put your finger on what he has been in before, just that you liked him and he did a good job. The movie is slick, it is entertaining and it has its own super cool style. So if you like gangster and crime movies this in a must see.
4.5 stars out of 5