On the verge of walking away from the coke business with a cool million in his pocket, Daniel Craig's super-slick dealer finds himself sucked back into a murky world of dodgy Dutch ecstasy, missing ingenues and psychopathic Serbian hitmen. Connoisseurs of the Brit-flick crime caper will note that Layer Cake was initially slated for Guy Ritchie before being helmed by one-time collaborator Matthew Vaughn, and there is no avoiding the fact that the blend of violence, anarchy and Keystone comedy is reminiscent of Lock,Stock... and Snatch. There are worse complaints, however, and Vaughn contrives a stylish, brutal thriller. He is well served by a cast that includes Craig, Michael Gambon and Colm Meaney, but the trouble with Layer Cake is its hero's motivation - all the characters are criminals, although some are more prone to double-crossing than others, and it soon becomes apparent that the audience is supposed to root for a money-obsessed criminal on the basis that he's cooler than the other crooks. Which is boring.
