| Layer Cake | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Matthew Vaughn |
| Produced by | Matthew Vaughn Adam Bohling Stephen Marks David Reid |
| Written by | Novel and screenplay: J. J. Connolly |
| Starring | Daniel Craig Colm Meaney Kenneth Cranham George Harris Jamie Foreman Sienna Miller Michael Gambon Marcel Iureş |
| Music by | Lisa Gerrard Ilan Eshkeri |
| Cinematography | Ben Davis |
| Editing by | Jon Harris |
| Studio | Marv |
| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Classics (United States) Columbia Pictures (United Kingdom) |
| Release date(s) | 1 October, 2004 (UK) 10 June, 2005 |
| Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English Romanian |
| Budget | £4,000,000 |
| Box office | $11,850,214 (worldwide) |
Layer Cake (stylised as L4YER CAKƐ on, for example, promotional posters and DVD artwork) is a 2004 British crime thriller produced and directed by Matthew Vaughn, in his directorial debut. It is based on the novel Layer Cake by J. J. Connolly.
The title refers to the human social strata, especially in the British criminal underworld, as well as the numerous plot layers in the film.
Contents |
The unnamed chief protagonist (Daniel Craig), identified in the closing credits only as XXXX, has established a successful business in London buying, cutting, and selling cocaine while avoiding the largesse and gangster behaviour associated with drug dealing. Having made his fortune, he plans to retire from the business for good.
X's powerful supplier, Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham) sends him to track down Charlie, the teenage daughter of Price's associate, Eddie Temple (Michael Gambon). Charlie has fled a rehabilitation centre with her drug-addicted boyfriend. In reality, but not yet known, X is being sent to kidnap Charlie to help Jimmy blackmail Temple over a bad investment.
At the same time, Price instructs X to organize the purchase and distribution of one million ecstasy tablets from a gangster named The Duke (Jamie Foreman). Unbeknownst to X, the pills have been stolen from a gang of Serbian war criminals in Holland. Jimmy has found out about X's plans to retire, and believes that either the Serbian gang or Eddie Temple's mercenaries will kill X, allowing him to recover some of his losses. The accountant used by X has stolen his money, having been working for Price. Meanwhile, X encounters The Duke's idiotic nephew, Sidney (Ben Whishaw) at a bar, and becomes attracted to Sidney's bored girlfriend Tammy (Sienna Miller).
X's world gradually unravels as he discovers Jimmy Price is informing for the police; X's associate, Morty (George Harris) goes into hiding after brutally beating and scalding a former associate with boiling tea in a cafe; the Duke and his gang mysteriously disappear; and the ruthless Eddie Temple involves himself in the already bungled ecstasy deal.
X devises an elaborate scam to play his various adversaries off against one another and ends up in the clear with most of his enemies dead, even after Temple steals the Ecstasy by withholding all payment other than a lifetime membership to the exclusive Stoke Park Club. Afterwards, Trevor and Shanks lead an armed assault on Temple's associates, stealing the ecstasy from them. X sticks to his original plan to retire, but as he and Tammy leave a celebratory lunch with his associates, he is shot on the front steps of the country house restaurant by Sidney who remarks "sorry" in an apologetic manner as he drops the gun and flees. X lies bleeding on the steps, his fate unknown.
The soundtrack from Layer Cake is composed of 14 tracks.
The Rolling Stones song "Gimme Shelter" also features in the film but does not appear on the soundtrack album.
| Film | Release date | Box office revenue | Box office ranking | Budget | Reference | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Worldwide | United States | United States | International | Worldwide | All time United States | All time worldwide | |||
| Layer Cake | May 2005 | May 2005 | $2,339,957 | $9,510,257 | $11,850,214 | #5,288 | Unknown | $6,500,000[1] | [2] |
| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | Entertainment Weekly | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Critics | Top Critics | Audience | |||
| Layer Cake | 81% (133 reviews)[3] | 84% (31 reviews)[4] | 83% (135,446 reviews)[5] | 73/100 (30 reviews)[6] | A[7] |
Layer Cake received positive reviews, with an 81% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[8] The film has an average score of 73 based on 30 reviews on Metacritic.[9]
Daniel Craig's starring role in the film has been cited as the performance that led to his high-profile casting as James Bond.[10]
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