Planning to retire and begin a new life, Mr. X (Daniel Craig, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider), a successful West End drug dealer, has been asked for one last favor: to negotiate the sale of one million hits of Ecstasy. Unfortunately for Mr. X, the pills were stolen from a Serbian drug lord who'll cut off his head if he sells them. And with a London crime czar (Michael Gambon) promising to retire him permanently if he doesn't, Mr. X may be rightfully concerned about his future. Nothing worth losing his head over.

CRITIQUE

Layer Cake is the directorial debut of producer Matthew Vaughn, who produced the Guy Ritchie movies Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. Vaughn proves very adept at filmmaking and the J.J. Connolly script provides enough good material for a fun and cool gangster-type flick. The story is not too complex, except quite a lot of characters introduced in a short time becomes a bit taxing figuring out who they are and what they’re up to. In fact, the plot is somewhat conventional in the way that the main character finds himself in and must get out of a quagmire as he has several different parties gunning for his him because of a million pills and throughout the show there’ll be some twists and turns.

Despite a story that isn’t all too original, the script features several cool scenes, character interactions and flashbacks, as well as a few twists that work even though they come at the audience from the left without expectation (surprises are always interesting but the last twist here is a bit confusing as the viewer will have to try hard to piece together several different plot threads). Aside from that, Layer Cake is an accomplished film with terrific cinematography, editing, music, and locations. The movie also moves at a good pace. The performances are right on the money, especially Daniel Craig and Colm Meaney. The supporting cast features familiar faces and character actors who give it their best.

THE VIDEO

Sony presents Layer Cake in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. The picture quality looks very nice, especially the cool and at times vibrant color palette. Sharpness and detail look correct, and there aren’t any distractions with the print quality, though some grain persists in a few scenes (which is only natural). This is a crisp and very good video presentation. Optional subtitles include English, Spanish, French, Korean and Thai.

THE AUDIO

Sony presents Layer Cake in English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. Dialogue and music sound very good. The rear speakers are active during the right moments and the front speakers deliver noise free audio that’s quite clear. It’s a solid presentation. A French Dolby 2.0 dub track is also available.

THE EXTRAS

The audio commentary by director Matthew Vaughn and writer J.J. Connolly is fairly informative with loads of stories from the production (changes, budget issues, filming) and discussions about the movie’s story, acting, look, feel, etc. While not terribly engaging (in terms of their voices), the two have enough good things to share about the movie to make it worth a listen to those who like the movie.

Presented in letterboxed fullscreen are 14 Deleted including 2 Alternate Endings with optional commentary by Vaughn (21:28). Some of these are quite interesting to watch (some subplots) while other scenes are just extensions to existing scenes. The alternate endings are somewhat similar but have a different outcome. Vaughn’s commentary offers good explanations why these scenes were cut from the movie.

The Q&A Screening at the National Film Theatre in England (29:01) recorded in September 2004 is an interesting piece with Matthew Vaughn and Daniel Craig discussing the movie and certain things. Good stuff.

Unlike the Q&A, the Making-of Featurette (5:56) is very brief and doesn’t have any valuable insights into the movie. There are interviews here with some cast members and Vaughn, and some on-set footage. I would’ve liked a comprehensive documentary instead of this promotional piece.

Next is a Poster Exploration Gallery that shows different designs for the movie poster, but hardly any of them look too good. Some even look pretty weak. The design for the DVD cover gets the job done I suppose even though its design is rather simple.

There are also 2 Storyboard Comparisons as well as previews for Kung Fu Hustle, Snatch and Dave Chappelle: For What It’s Worth.

FINAL THOUGHT

Layer Cake comes recommended to viewers who enjoyed Snatch and other movies along those lines.