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Layer Cake (Widescreen) (2004)

Starring: Daniel Craig, Kenneth Cranham Director: Matthew Vaughn Rating: R (Restricted) Format: DVD

4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (120 customer reviews)

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	84% buy the item featured on this page: Layer Cake (Widescreen) 4.2 out of 5 stars (120) $8.99
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Product Details

Actors: Daniel Craig, Kenneth Cranham, Dexter Fletcher, Michael Gambon, Colm Meaney
Directors: Matthew Vaughn
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Subtitles: English, French
Region: Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
PLEASE NOTE: Some Region 1 DVDs may contain Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE). Some, but not all, of our international customers have had problems playing these enhanced discs on what are called "region-free" DVD players. For more information on RCE, click here.
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Number of discs: 1
Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
DVD Release Date: August 23, 2005
Run Time: 105 minutes

Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (120 customer reviews)

ASIN: B0009X7BDC
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,233 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
Popular in these categories: (What's this?)
#11 in Movies & TV > Mystery & Suspense > Crime > Gangsters
#66 in Movies & TV > Drama > Crime & Criminals

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
As its title suggests, Layer Cake is a crime thriller that cuts into several levels of its treacherous criminal underworld. The title is actually one character's definition of the drug-trade hierarchy, but it's also an apt metaphor for the separate layers of deception, death, and betrayal experienced by the film's unnamed protagonist, a cocaine traffic middle-man played with smooth appeal by Daniel Craig (rumored at the time of this film's release to be on the short list for consideration as the next James Bond). Listed in the credits only as "XXXX," the character is trapped into doing a favor for his volatile boss, only to have tables turned by his boss's boss (Michael Gambon) in a twisting plot involving a stolen shipment of Ecstasy, a missing girl, duplicitous dealers, murderous Serbian gangsters, and a variety of lowlifes with their own deadly agendas. As adapted by J.J. Connolly (from his own novel) and directed by Matthew Vaughan (who earned his genre chops as producer of Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch), Layer Cake improves upon those earlier British gangland hits with assured pacing, intelligent plotting, and an admirable emphasis on plot-moving dialogue over routine action. Sure, it's violent (that's to be expected) and not always involving, but it's smarter than most thrillers, and Vaughan's directorial debut has a confident style that's flashy without being flamboyant. This could be the start of an impressive career. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description
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, Open Range & The Insider) promising to retire him permanently if he doesn't, Mr. X may be rightfully concerned about his future. Nothing worth losing his head over.

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Customer Reviews

120 Reviews

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(55)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

Average Customer Review

4.2 out of 5 stars (120 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Credible and Entrancing, August 28, 2005

By	Andrew Desmond (Neutral Bay, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Layer Cake" is of that increasingly popular film genre that goes by the loose title of British gangsterism. "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" comes to mind although this film is more a black comedy than "Layer Cake" which strives to remain true to its roots.

The essence of the film is that the lead character, XXXX, played by Daniel Craig is trying to retire from the drug trade. He's had enough, is now comfortably well off and has played the game carefully and by the rules, to the extent that rules exist. However, his retirement is postponed as he is drawn into an ever more complex web of intrigue and double crossing. He finds himself being exposed to greater risk that he would normally accept. He is forced to operate outside his comfort zone.

The film is well placed and totally entrancing as the viewer is gradually sucked in to this nether world of crime. His cohorts seem quite believable as do the lords of the game and the shadowy Bosnian mafia that lurks as a background threat. The plotting is complex and the deals always tense with big stakes being played. The film has "street cred".

The film's ending is unexpected. I will say no more as I don't want to spoil it for others. Perhaps the best advise is simply to see it!

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39 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow... Great, Great Fun and a Smashing Ending! , August 11, 2005

By	KDMask (Rochester, Planet Fab, NY) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

If you like British crime movies or loved "The Usual Suspects" this move is for you. I actually saw this at our local art movie house and went twice. I can't believe it's on DVD so soon! With great acting (Daniel Craig is a young James Woods) and fab dialog, this isn't just a "thug" movie at all. The "layers" of this cake are spectacular. Just when you think you've got it figured out, it twists yet again. The fast-paced action keeps you interested and the music is awesome (I'll be getting the soundtrack next).
Don't miss this gem. You'll want to watch it over and over again.

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Cake" is overcomplicated but seriously cool, June 30, 2005

By	Clare Quilty (a little pad in hawaii) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Even though his name is never revealed during the course of the British crime thriller, "Layer Cake," we get to know the hero very well, very fast.

"I'm not a gangster," he explains. "I'm a businessman whose commodity happens to be cocaine."

This guy, identified as XXXX in the end credits, deals only in neatly wrapped kilos; he employs a smart chemist, a slick accountant and a loyal posse of heavies; he has a legitimate business on the side and he tools around London in a sleek silver Audi (station wagon).

And while he might be a "T-shirt and jeans" kind of guy, he sports very expensive-looking T-shirts and jeans.

Of course, the only reason crime thrillers stress the professionalism of their main characters is so we can watch as circumstances eventually force them to break their own rules and pay a stiff price.

Those circumstances appear in the form of Jimmy (Kenneth Cranham) a grumpy upper-level gangster who summons XXXX and demands two sketchy favors of him. XXXX complies and quickly finds himself up to his earlobes in thugs, mols, Serbian assassins and the kind of bottom-feeders he likes to shun.

"Layer Cake" was directed by Matthew Vaughn, who previously produced Guy Ritchie's "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch." All three movies have a lot in common but Ritchie's amped-up films bounce off the walls and onto the ceiling; Vaughn's is colder and more calculating - to use a Brit pop analogy, if Ritchie's movies are akin to the strutting, pub brawlers Oasis, Vaughn's is the orchestral-but-grooving The Verve.

Eventually, though, the plot becomes ridiculously complicated. While it is possible to make sense of all the scams and double-crosses, the movie is a lot more interesting when it focuses on characters instead of twists and coincidences and two particularly exaggerated violent beatings. By the last act, the movie is just chasing its own tail... and yet, somehow, it's a hard movie to dislike.

Despite its terrible title (a euphemism for the gangster hierarchy) but it oozes cool: XXXX is played by Daniel Craig who could almost be a gaunt, slightly freeze-dried Steve McQueen circa "Bullitt" ; the great Michael Gambon shows up as a phlegmatic, aging tiger of a mob boss; Sienna Miller wanders through long enough to model lingerie to the Stones' "Gimme Shelter" ; and though this is his first film, Vaughn really knows how to move a story along with style.

If he can keep the plot from overwhelming the characters next time around, he might turn out to be a really good director.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars The surprise inside the cake
Like Pulp Fiction, Layer Cake's title hints at the irregular path the film takes to tell its tale. It follows an honorable crook, which we know only as XXXX (Daniel Craig), who... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Michael J. Tresca

4.0 out of 5 stars Good movie with crazy ending
Movie lags and is hard to follow at times but the ending totally makes up for it!

Published 2 months ago by J. Dixon

5.0 out of 5 stars Layered out criminal saga
Not your "James Bond" Daniel Craig role in this movie, which consists of a down and dirty melange of assorted thuggies and druggies in a complex tale of double and triple dealings... Read more

Published 4 months ago by Michael S. Dewey

5.0 out of 5 stars Great movie, hooked me on Daniel Craig before Bond
I am a big fan of movies like this. If you are a fan of lock stock, or snatch, than this is a one you have to see. Read more

Published 5 months ago by Robert Cooney

5.0 out of 5 stars David Craig's Bond tryout?!?
I love this movie. Definitely one of my favorite movies ever. After seeing this, I knew David Craig was going to be the new generation of Bond. Read more

Published 6 months ago by E. Iseler

1.0 out of 5 stars Is not in stock
Unfortunately Amazon is saying this is in stock (as with many other products on the website) -- yet days later you receive a later apologizing for the delay. Read more

Published 6 months ago by A. Curtis

3.0 out of 5 stars Incomprehensible Cockney accents
Once you get past the at-times unintelligible Cockney - this was intended for Brit audiences, I guess - the film moves along at a decent clip, though the plot twists are hard to... Read more

Published 7 months ago by Bradley F. Smith

4.0 out of 5 stars Just a Bunch of Guys Having Some Fun
With a plot that would take longer than the movie to explain, this is a gangster movie with everyone double or triple crossing everyone else. Read more

Published 12 months ago by Grey Wolffe

5.0 out of 5 stars Made Me Love Life Again
Amazingly complex plot woven with threads of delicious action and well written dialogue.

Good beyond all rational expectations.

Published 12 months ago by Jacob C. Rosenfeld

4.0 out of 5 stars MATTHEW VAUGHN, OPUS 1
***1/2 2004. Based on J.J. Connolly's Layer Cake, this film was directed by the British director Matthew Vaughn. London. Read more

Published 14 months ago by wdanthemanw

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