Layer Cake (2004)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2004
	Director: Matthew Vaughn (Kingsman: The Secret Service, Kick-Ass, X-men: First Class)
	Actors: Daniel Craig (Casino Royale), Sienna Miller, Michael Gambon, Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Returns), Ben Whishaw (Skyfall), Burn Gorman (Pacific Rim)
	Country: GB
	Genre: Thriller, Action
	Conditions of visioning: 06.04.2015, DVD, 11" computer screen
Synopsis: A clever drug dealer (Craig) is about to retire when his supplier assigns him two new jobs that will disturb his plans.
Review: From the same director I liked Kick-Ass, was impressed by the good start of a new trilogy with X-men: First Class, and very curious to see Kingsman: Secret Services after Vaughn refused to direct Star Wars VII to do it. I already bought the Blu-ray of Stardust, the only movie directed by Vaughn that I haven't seen yet. In Layer Cake one can already recognize a style that Vaughn will show again in full in Kingsman but from which you only get hints in his two American movies: credible characters with realistic reaction, original structure, unpredictable events and some level of offbeat humor. It is also interesting to see many actors that will be seen again in the following years in big productions, including a pre-Bond Daniel Craig. I was mistaken in thinking Layer Cake was in the line of Guy Ritchie movies (Snatch incidentally produced by Vaughn, Smoking Aces, Rocknrolla), while in fact it is more anchored in reality and contains less humour. It is more the kind of movie in which you feel bad for the main character, in spite of him being a criminal, and that from the very start of the story. In the end an original European gangster movie.
Rating: 7 /10