2008 Woodie Awards
Vaughn serves up tasty helping of Brit action
By Nick Gligor
Issue date: 9/30/05 Section: Entertainment
Chances are probably good that most people have never heard of Matthew Vaughn. When his movie Layer Cake opened earlier this summer in select theaters, the little hype that surrounded the film fell mostly on deaf ears by the time it hit the general American public. Now out on DVD, it's getting a bit more of the recognition it deserves... but it's just not quite enough. A movie this smart and well-executed should not be overlooked.
So where did this guy come from? Vaughn has in fact been serving as a producer for years, particularly for Guy Ritchie's films Snatch and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. Taking a page or two from Ritchie's book stylistically, Vaughn weaves together an intricate story about drug trafficking businessman XXXX (Daniel Craig) and the goings-on of the crime-ridden, British drug underworld in which he conducts his business. Exclusively an entrepreneur, he chooses not to get involved in the violent dirty work that takes place in his field. After accumulating a substantial amount of money from his deals, he decides to retire.
Of course in this line of work, things are never that easy. XXXX's boss Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham) not only enlists him to rectify a bad ecstasy deal, but also to find the missing daughter of his own boss Eddie Temple (veteran Michael Gambon). As he gets sucked further into this dangerous machine, he is forced into carrying out the tasks that he so carefully avoided before. Throw in some crooked Serbian gangsters, guns and more gangsters and you've got all-out, full throttle mayhem.
Craig is superb in his role as the mysterious lead, and though credited as XXXX, his name is never mentioned once in the movie. In fact, he's so slick that we don't even realize he's nameless until he literally reminds us at the end. The supporting cast is equally top notch, especially the stern faced Colm Meaney, the slimy Jamie Foreman, the stunning Sienna Miller and George Harris, whose fight sequence with a hobo is one of the film's most memorable moments.
Vaughn keeps the movie extremely stylish throughout, utilizing the aesthetics of Britain nicely by setting up swooping camera angles and pulling some tricky editing out of his sleeve. The dialogue and unexpected plot twists keep the film exciting, thanks to screenwriter (and author of the novel) J.J. Connolly. To top things off, it's loaded with a hip, retro-tinged soundtrack featuring tunes from The Cult, Duran Duran, XTC, The Rolling Stones and Joe Cocker
The twists and turns are hard to follow at times, but that's one of the movie's best attributes: the element of surprise. And the completely unexpected ending turns out to be just the icing on the cake (pun intended). So do yourself a favor. Go rent Layer Cake today and check out this gem of a crime film that you probably missed the first helping of. Matthew Vaughn deserves your attention.
So where did this guy come from? Vaughn has in fact been serving as a producer for years, particularly for Guy Ritchie's films Snatch and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. Taking a page or two from Ritchie's book stylistically, Vaughn weaves together an intricate story about drug trafficking businessman XXXX (Daniel Craig) and the goings-on of the crime-ridden, British drug underworld in which he conducts his business. Exclusively an entrepreneur, he chooses not to get involved in the violent dirty work that takes place in his field. After accumulating a substantial amount of money from his deals, he decides to retire.
Of course in this line of work, things are never that easy. XXXX's boss Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham) not only enlists him to rectify a bad ecstasy deal, but also to find the missing daughter of his own boss Eddie Temple (veteran Michael Gambon). As he gets sucked further into this dangerous machine, he is forced into carrying out the tasks that he so carefully avoided before. Throw in some crooked Serbian gangsters, guns and more gangsters and you've got all-out, full throttle mayhem.
Craig is superb in his role as the mysterious lead, and though credited as XXXX, his name is never mentioned once in the movie. In fact, he's so slick that we don't even realize he's nameless until he literally reminds us at the end. The supporting cast is equally top notch, especially the stern faced Colm Meaney, the slimy Jamie Foreman, the stunning Sienna Miller and George Harris, whose fight sequence with a hobo is one of the film's most memorable moments.
Vaughn keeps the movie extremely stylish throughout, utilizing the aesthetics of Britain nicely by setting up swooping camera angles and pulling some tricky editing out of his sleeve. The dialogue and unexpected plot twists keep the film exciting, thanks to screenwriter (and author of the novel) J.J. Connolly. To top things off, it's loaded with a hip, retro-tinged soundtrack featuring tunes from The Cult, Duran Duran, XTC, The Rolling Stones and Joe Cocker
The twists and turns are hard to follow at times, but that's one of the movie's best attributes: the element of surprise. And the completely unexpected ending turns out to be just the icing on the cake (pun intended). So do yourself a favor. Go rent Layer Cake today and check out this gem of a crime film that you probably missed the first helping of. Matthew Vaughn deserves your attention.
