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. Just great fun but don't expect to see Sienna Miller in this movie for more than thirty seconds at a time. This is the kind of character that Steve McQueen used to play, cooler than cool and steady as the Rock of Gibralta.

Just watch the film and enjoy, but don't blink, you'll miss something important. (Americans may find it difficult to understand some of the language and the accents on some of the characters are very thick.)

Amazingly complex plot woven with threads of delicious action and well written dialogue.

Good beyond all rational expectations.

***1/2 2004. Based on J.J. Connolly's Layer Cake, this film was directed by the British director Matthew Vaughn. London. Daniel Craig is told by his boss to purchase the loot offered by the Duke and his gang. But this loot was robbed in the Netherlands from a local Serbian drug lord who's not happy at all. With David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises (Widescreen Edition) and John Mackenzie's The Long Good Friday - Criterion Collection, you'll have with LAYER CAKE a near complete overview of the London underground described in cinema. Recommended.

Do not watch this movie expecting Snatch or Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. Even though the source material has some fun in it, similar to the two previously mentioned films, the life is stripped out of Layer Cake in this crime world quasi-drama where 3 story lines (well... 3 *main* story lines) intersect at one person whose life gets turned upside down in an instant.

But all the story lines lay flat. There are no characters that you really care about enough to stay with. They feel almost too polished because they are supposed to be uber-cool drug dealers. But that also makes them very forgetable. There is no character development that makes them jump off the page. This makes the movie dull.

It is not a total loss though. There are cool concepts. Guilt of murder, retribution, and endless double crossing are just a few. None are taken to full developement, but are good points to ponder what could have been. There are nice cinematic shots, which is also interesting. And there are a few points (including the ending) that I think were pleasant departures from the norm. These factors make it 'not boring.'

In feel, it actually reminded me of 'Lucky Number Slevin.' Not in story line (although the crime bosses and double cross components are there), but rather in overall style. That movie is better than Layer Cake. I would recommend that movie before this one. If you are a Daniel Craig fan, I would get this on sale somewhere. Don't pay top dollar.

My home theatre screen was electrified with this wonderful Blu-Ray movie. The movie was received in a timely manner and in excellent condition. I shall order more Blu-Ray as soon as they are on sale.