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Features: DVD, Special Edition, Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 2.40:1, Dolby Digital (5.1), Dolby Surround Sound, Deleted Scenes, Alternate Endings, Featurettes, Commentary, Previews, Gallery, English, Subtitled, French, Dubbed & Subtitled
Planning to retire and begin a new life, Mr. X (Daniel Craig, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider), a successful West End drug dealer, has been asked for one last favor: to negotiate the sale of one million hits of Ecstasy. Unfortunately for Mr. X, the pills were stolen from a Serbian drug lord who'll cut off his head if he sells them. And with a London crime czar (Michael Gambon, Open Range, The Insider) promising to retire him permanently if he doesn't, Mr. X may be rightfully concerned about his future. Nothing worth losing his head over.
"Hilarious and genuinely cool." Glenn Kenny, Premiere
"Crime dramas are common, but there are things about Layer Cake that put it into a special class." Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
"A dense wild, and convulsive gangster thriller!" Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
Editor's Note
As deeply cool and urbane as its unnamed hero, LAYER CAKE follows the precise, articulate XXXX (Daniel Craig) as he maneuvers through what he intends to be his last business deal in modern-day London. His business? Drugs. On the cusp of turning 30, XXXX has amassed a personal fortune, deftly avoiding the violence and ugliness so many others in his trade fall prey to by following a strict personal code defined by discretion and clean detachment from the products he sells. Just as XXXX is poised to cash in and get out, Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham), the top layer of this particular underworld cake, hands down two tasks: find Eddie Temple's (Michael Gambon) drug-addicted daughter, and unload a mass of ecstasy stolen in Amsterdam by the sloppy, loud Duke (Jamie Foreman), who is exactly the type of wannabe gangster that XXXX has spent his career avoiding. Further complicating matters is Tammy (Sienna Miller), a sexy young blond who XXXX meets in a club and can't get off his mind.First-time director Michael Vaughn (producer on SNATCH and LOCK, STOCK, AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS) brings a practiced eye to the film, creating a slick, highly entertaining visual style which perfectly complements the twisting storyline. The London drug world comes to vibrant life in screenwriter J.J. Connolly's adaptation of his first novel, which retains its keen ear for slang and its eye for detail, giving LAYER CAKE a thrilling ring of authenticity. In the role of XXXX, Daniel Craig has a commanding presence, portraying a man who is so good at his job that he may never be permitted to leave it, regardless of how smart he is or how well he's planned. Like the best in the crime-thriller genre, LAYER CAKE is unpredictable, unsettling, and unforgettable.
| Features | 14 Deleted Scenes With Optional Commentary | | 2 Alternate Endings With Optional Commentary | | 2 Storyboard Comparisons | | Anamorphic Widescreen Presentation | | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1; French Dolby Surround | | Director Matthew Vaughn And Writer J.J. Connolly's Commentary | | Poster Exploration Gallery | | Previews | | Q&A Screening At The National Film Theatre In England | | Subtitles: English, French | | The Making-Of Featurette |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Columbia Tri-Star |
| Release Date: 10/23/2007 |
| Running Time: 105 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2005 | | Catalog ID: 10889 | | UPC: 00043396108899 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English, French Dubbed | | Available Subtitles: English, French | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Widescreen 2.40:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
British Academy Awards (2005) | | | Matthew Vaughn, Nominee, Carl Foreman Award for the Most Promising Newcomer |
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| | Professional Reviews | New York Times
"LAYER CAKE is the newest in British gangland entertainment and the tastiest in years." 05/13/2005 p.E13Los Angeles Times
"[A] stunningly suave performance by Craig, a top-drawer supporting cast and a dynamic directing debut by producer Matthew Vaughn." 05/13/2005 p.E8 Entertainment Weekly
"[F]ast, convulsive, and densely exciting....[With a] bravura display of underworld grace under pressure..." 05/20/2005 p.54 USA Today
"[T]here's a lot here to feed crime-fiction enthusiasts. Craig has an interesting face you can read a lot into..." 05/13/2005 p.6E Ultimate DVD
4 stars out of 5 -- "Vaughn's direction is ultra-stylized, smart and hip and it looks fantastic in HD..." 05/01/2007 p.81 James Berardinelli's ReelViews 8 of 10
Layer Cake has a fresh, distinctive style that points to its director as being confident in his material and the way he has chosen to bring it to the screen. Because the movie focuses more on a character than his actions, we are drawn into the protagonist's world before it begins to collapse around him. Even though, in a black-and-white landscape where all drug dealers are "evil," he's technically a bad guy, we find ourselves rooting for him, if only because he's the nicest of a bunch. - James Berardinelli
Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
The movie was directed by Matthew Vaughn, who produced "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch," and this one works better than those films because it doesn't try so hard to be clever and tries harder to be menacing. It's difficult to take danger seriously when it's packaged in fancy camera work, although Guy Ritchie's "Lock, Stock" did have a carefree visual genius. "Layer Cake" is more in the Scorsese vein, in which a smart and ambitious young man has it all figured out and then gradually loses control to old-fashioned hoods who don't have the patience for prudence when it's easier to just eliminate anyone who gets in their way. The problem is that every dead enemy tends to have a more dangerous living enemy standing next in line. - Roger Ebert
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