Peel Away the Layer

I wanted to like Layer Cake. I really did.

This is a movie set in the drug underworld of the U.K., following a just-below-midlevel drug maker. He's trying to stay under the radar and earn enough money to quit, but he's constantly caught up in progressively more attention-grabbing events. I'd heard particularly good things about the characters and the dialogue of the movie.

Then there was the plus of a few of its stars. Daniel Craig is the main character; he made a great, stern James Bond, and I thought it might be interesting to see one of the films that very likely earned him the job. Then there's Colm Meaney from Star Trek (The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine) as a major secondary character; he's hardly ever cast to show great range, but is always able to pull off a likable and relatable character, even a despicable one. And in a significant but smaller role, there's Michael Gambon (who among many, many other film roles, took over as Dumbledore in the Harry Potter film series), who commands the screen despite a soft-spoken demeanor.

Seemed like a good recipe, right?

Well, the problem is, the movie starts fairly strong, but almost instantly starts losing speed, steadily declining into what I found to be a barely watchable state. There's a fascinating opening 10 minutes that really lays out the protagonist, what he does, what he wants -- everything you want to know...

But then it devolves into fairly conventional drugs-and-violence fare. There aren't really any revolutionary sequences to grab attention, and nothing is staged or filmed in a particularly new or exciting way. That interesting main character is forced by the plot to bob around from moment to moment, completely out of control; this is the point of the story, mind you, but isn't what I wanted to see after those opening 10 minutes.

If you like good British patter, there are better films. If you're interested in movies about drugs, there are better films. Basically, whatever you're looking for, there are better films. It's not a total loss, thanks to that compelling opening; I just wish it led into an entirely different film. I rate Layer Cake a D+.