Disappointed by Guy Ritchie's projects after Lock Stock and Snatch, I turned to the work of early collaborator Matthew Vaughn in search of a similar fix. After about thirty minutes with this, though, the truth of the matter became painfully clear: Vaughn needs Ritchie just as much as Ritchie needs Vaughn. It's an unpolished picture, all twist and no character - the polar opposite of Ritchie's latest caper flick, RocknRolla.

Layer Cake's heart is in the right place, with a setup so familiar it may as well have come straight from the same brainstorming sessions that produced the duo's earlier collaborations. But try as it might, this film just can't manage to grant its players the same kind of mettle that was so present in those preceding pictures. They're lifeless before running into a violent end, going through the motions but lacking the conviction to make their words feel authentic. And there are no less than three dozen of them, many of whom are on screen for less then ten minutes, playing major off-camera roles amidst all of the twisting and the turning. I had a hard enough time remembering everybody's names, let alone keeping track of their ever-shifting allegiances.

Convoluted, conflicted and confusing, this is a cake that needed a bit more time in the oven. Or more frosting... everybody loves frosting.

LAYER CAKE caught me by surprise, from trailers it was safe to assume I could settle for a low-focus style action comedy/drama just to chuck up a laptop and have it on in the background, I was very wrong.

Although its presentation is very reminiscent of a classical action film the film is very mature and sparse with its use of action and tends to focus a ridiculous amount of depth on the inner workings of the drug trade itself. Daniel Craig lends a solid performance to the film and it easy to see early in his career the bond blood in his veins. His natural leadership despite his young appearance makes for a character strung up by the doubt from his peers, and in some ways from the audience as it becomes quickly apparent how brilliant his reactivity is to plot scenarios. The way the story intertwines itself in absolution, whilst not compromising the realist perspective of life in crime is a joy to watch and never questionable, each plot device and decision has a level or "Layer" of its own justification.

This is a film that demands a re-watch just to re-consider each name unapologetically thrown into the mix as cartels and drug lords butt heads. It is a film that never attempts to compromise itself for its viewer and its use of action and violence is brutal but not gratuitous, and only accompanies a point of urgency. Editing has moments of flash and sub-par cutting that throw off narration and cutaway scenes which can be distracting for the time being but other than a few technical hiccups it is a well paced experience.

7.3/10

I'm not a gangster, just a businessman. And my commodity happens to be cocaine.

With a considerable amount of cash saved from his, ahem, dealings. A London drug dealer is all set to retire abroad and start a new life. However his mob boss Jimmy Price has two jobs for him to do immediately...

Layer Cake is directed by Matthew Vaughn. Vaughn is more well known as Guy Ritchie's producer on his early British gangster genre forays. Suffice to say he had some insight into what made those films {Snatch et al} hugely popular with the watching British public. How pleasing it is then to say that Vaughn, by showing restraint and an unfussy approach, has crafted a film that's more than equal to the best of Britain gangster faves, and actually sets new parameters for toning a film. By focusing more on mood and atmosphere over bombastic scenarios, Vaughn, aided by a superlative Daniel Craig as the nameless dealer, lifts the film above its conventional plot arc. In what could have been a standard tale of a man doing one last job before going straight, we, along with Craig, find that all roads are blocked, it's as if there is some higher force at work here.

Layer Cake also scores high for its more easy on the eye filming of London, this is no destitute capital where tower blocks loom like monsters over the characters. This London is thriving, vim and vitality, the place to be, seediness is far from the ebullient crowd. Ben Davis' photography perfectly complimenting the engrossing score from Lisa Gerrard & Ilan Eshkeri, both of which serve to make London an extra character in the story. The film however is not perfect, at 105 minutes it's actually too short, something that only becomes apparent when all the plot strands come crashing together in a rushed last quarter. Yet in spite of that failing, the ending delivers a jolt to the system, to crown, what to me at least, is one of Britain's finest and tidiest gangster offerings. 9/10