Layer Cake is one of those crime movies that doesn’t need to constantly remind you how cool it is. Released in 2004 and directed by Matthew Vaughn, the movie is smart, violent, funny and incredibly stylish.

Layer Cake is one of those crime movies that doesn’t need to constantly remind you how cool it is. Released in 2004 and directed by Matthew Vaughn, the movie is smart, violent, funny and incredibly stylish, while also having a story that keeps getting more complicated the deeper you get into it.

Daniel Craig stars as the unnamed drug dealer at the center of the story, and this movie arrived several years before he became James Bond. He’s already got the confidence and screen presence you would expect from Bond, but here he’s playing somebody much more cynical and morally complicated. His character has built a successful career selling drugs and believes he can eventually walk away from the business and live a normal life.

Of course, things don’t work out that way. His boss gives him a couple of jobs that are supposed to be relatively straightforward, but both quickly turn into much bigger problems. One involves finding the missing daughter of a wealthy criminal, while another involves arranging a major drug deal. Before long, he’s caught between different criminal organizations, violent gangsters and people he can’t trust.

The movie has a huge supporting cast, and practically everybody seems perfectly suited to their role. Tom Hardy, Colm Meaney, Michael Gambon, Sienna Miller, Ben Whishaw and Kenneth Cranham all make memorable appearances. There are so many different characters and criminal connections that you have to pay attention, but that’s part of what makes the movie so much fun.

Tom Hardy is particularly entertaining as Clarkey, one of the people working alongside Craig’s character. Even in a relatively small role, Hardy has the kind of presence that makes you pay attention whenever he’s on screen. Ben Whishaw is also great as Sidney, and Michael Gambon plays Eddie Temple with exactly the kind of intimidating authority you’d expect from someone at the top of the criminal world.

Matthew Vaughn did a fantastic job directing the movie. Layer Cake was his first feature as a director, and it’s pretty impressive how confident it feels. He keeps the story moving quickly without making it difficult to follow, and the movie has a slick visual style that never overwhelms the characters or the story.

One of the best things about Layer Cake is the way it portrays the criminal world. These aren’t cartoon gangsters who spend the entire movie screaming and waving guns around. A lot of the characters are businessmen in their own way, and there are rules, deals, favors and relationships holding everything together. The problem is that when one person breaks those rules, things can become extremely violent very quickly.

The plot is also much more complicated than it initially appears. Craig’s character thinks he’s close to getting out of the drug business, but every new job pulls him deeper into a world he thought he was leaving behind. Every time he thinks he has solved one problem, another one appears, and eventually it becomes difficult to tell who is actually manipulating whom.

That is where the title Layer Cake really makes sense. The criminal world is made up of different layers, with people above and below each other, and everybody seems to have their own agenda. The main character thinks he understands where he stands, but the further he goes, the more he realizes that he may not be nearly as important as he thought.

The movie is also genuinely funny. There is plenty of dark humor throughout the story, and the comedy works because it comes naturally from the characters and situations. Layer Cake can go from a funny conversation to somebody getting brutally murdered without feeling like the movie has suddenly changed genres.

The soundtrack and editing also give the movie a great rhythm. It has that early 2000s British crime movie energy where everything feels fast, stylish and slightly dangerous. There is a real sense of momentum throughout the movie, and even the quieter scenes feel like something could go wrong at any moment.

I also think Layer Cake is one of the best examples of a movie that proves you don’t need a complicated explanation for why someone is a criminal. Craig’s character isn’t presented as some misunderstood hero. He’s a drug dealer who has convinced himself that he’s smart enough to get out before things become too dangerous. Watching that plan fall apart is what makes the story so entertaining.

The film also helped establish Matthew Vaughn as a director worth paying attention to. He would go on to direct movies like Stardust, Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class, but Layer Cake remains one of his most focused films. It’s lean, confident and doesn’t waste much time.

And then there is Daniel Craig, who is probably the biggest reason the movie feels so significant looking back at it now. Seeing him play this character before he became Bond is fascinating because you can see exactly why he was eventually chosen for that role. He has the toughness, confidence and understated intensity that would later become such a huge part of his version of 007.

Layer Cake is ultimately just a really well made crime movie. It has a great cast, a clever story, excellent direction, dark humor, memorable characters and enough twists to keep you guessing without turning the whole thing into nonsense. It also manages to be stylish without sacrificing the actual story.

That’s why I think Layer Cake deserves to be considered one of the better British crime films of the 2000s. It’s smart without being pretentious, violent without becoming mindless and funny without destroying the serious parts of the story. If you like gangster movies, British crime films or Daniel Craig before James Bond, Layer Cake is definitely worth watching.