Layer Cake

When was the last time you saw a movie on VCD? I just did last weekend. Was browsing through a friends collection of movies and found L4yer Cake. I had been looking for the DVD for a long time now but had not found it. So it wasn’t the least surprising that I was thoroughly excited at the prospect of watching it. But then it turned out to be a VCD – I don’t remember the last time I had seen one. The worry with watching a movie like L4yer Cake is that it is extremely dialogue intensive. And VCDs don’t have subtitles. Lowly mortals like yours truly are unfortunately not blessed with a capability of being able to listen to dialogues on media that has truly low quality audio (excuse to ignore the 3 pegs of whiskey that was already in the blood stream ). So it is with great difficulty that I managed to push myself through one whole CD of L4yer Cake. Needless to say, I was hooked and had to watch the 2nd as well (in case you have forgotten, VCDs come in 2 discs and not one like DVDs do :D:D:D)

This is the 2nd Matthew Vaughn movie I am reviewing in as many months, the previous one being X Men First Class. The only complaint I had about XMFC was the lack of consistency between the Bryan Singer version and the versions all through. However, there was no such worry in L4yer Cake for certain. Matthew Vaughn makes his debut in Hollywood in 2004 with L4yer Cake. An exceptionally strong movie to start one’s career with for certain. Guess it merits giving his other 2 movies – Startdust and Kick Ass – due consideration.

Based on a JJ Connolly novel of the same name, L4yer Cake tracks the life of an un-named drug dealer, called XXXX (Daniel Craig) in the credits who decides to call it quits but is convinced to run a couple of more jobs by his supplier Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham). X doesn’t quite like the idea but is pushed to accept the assignment. As if it wasn’t bad enough. His last deal with an extremely shady character called Duke (Jamie Foreman) goes woefully wrong. Duke is trying to palm off a million ecstacy tablets to X. The trouble is that these tablets have been stolen from Serbian war criminals led by a guy called Slavo (Marcel Iureş).

L4yer Cake offers just the right heady mixture for a thriller that takes Guy Richiesque proportions. Its pacy and with barely any drops in excitement levels, makes for a wonderful watch any day of the week. The only complaint one may have is that Sienna Miller isn’t shown enough during the movie. There is enough of action though to compensate for the lack of any women in the movie. Be prepared for edge of the seat British action. 7 on 10 for this one.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2510946585/