With a title like Layer Cake, one would hope for a delicious dessert of a film, with each layer of context more satisfying the deeper down you get.
But often, in both art and food, certain layers are more satisfying than others.
Usually it’s the lovely outer layer that lures. But one soon realizes that beneath the outer layer are less fulfilling sections.
In this manner, first-time director Matthew Vaughn’s Layer Cake left me hungry for more. Vaughn’s film, adapted from J.J. Connolly’s book of the same name, concerns an unnamed underground businessman who deals with drugs (Daniel Craig) and hopes to retire from the game, yet is called for one last job, which, as luck would have it, goes haywire.
As to be expected in most crime dramas, there are deceptions aplenty sprouting up-from XXXX (as he’s described in the final credits)’s bosses, to the lady in his life (latest Brit It Girl Sienna Miller). As he attempts to get to the bottom of the situation, he learns the unfortunate truth about the hierarchy of criminal powers, how low he is in that pecking order, and gets welcomed into (as crime lord Michael Gambon puts it) the “layer cake.”
Upon first glance, this is a very appealing offering. Vaughn, famous for producing Guy Ritchie's modern classics Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, took over the helm of this flick after Ritchie declined. Where Ritchie's films were energetic, fast-paced, and ultra-modern in almost every way, Layer Cake is much more low-key. Initially, it is refreshing to see a film in a similar vein as those two films that is calmer and more traditional. A comparison can be made to Quentin Tarantino, who followed up the successfully artistic Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction with the comparatively less wild yet still wonderful Jackie Brown.
However, where Jackie Brown was consistent in style and theme throughout, Layer Cake almost seems like it is caught between a traditional gangster film and an ultra-modern one and is unsure in which direction to go. The film has long stretches of time featuring traditional filmmaking techniques and then suddenly breaks into a sequence featuring methods often found in Ritchie’s films, such as sped-up photography and innovative CGI effects. They make for an interesting visual, yet when you go deeper you see that they are used basically for shock value-a wake-up call to those who are bored and expecting Snatch 2: Turkish’s Revenge.
Layer Cake is a generally refreshing addition to the British crime film genre, but I’m still waiting for a more fulfilling dish to be served.
Layer Cake is in theatres now.
