Layer Cake (2004)

Directed by Matthew Vaughn. Starring Daniel Craig, Colm Meaney, George Harris, Michael Gambon, Jamie Forman, Kenneth Cranham, Marcel Iures, Sally Hawkins, Ben Whishaw, Burn Gorman, Sienna Miller, Tamer Hassan. [R]

London cocaine dealer Craig is on the brink of early retirement, but gets roped into doing a couple of “favors” for mob boss Cranham that sends him on a dark, serpentine path for trouble, putting him at odds with a ruthless Serbian gang. Another superficial yet densely-plotted descent into the British underworld, like a slower, meaner, and more obtuse riff on Guy Ritchie’s first couple gangster pictures (fitting, since director Vaughn produced those joints). So empty that its criminal protagonist doesn’t even get a name (he’s credited as “XXXX”), and his ultimate fate is so inconsequential that the conclusion has as much impact as a flick to the earlobe, but once it gets past its lumpy, tangled first half, there’s some sleek and stylish fun to be had. Script by J. J. Connolly from his own debut crime novel. Tom Hardy has a small role; Miller is limited to just a handful of walk-ons. The title is sometimes stylized as L4YER CAKƐ for no good reason.

64/100