Layer Cake

Layer cake: opening sequence analysis.

In this essay I am going to describe and commentate on the effectiveness of the opening sequence to the 2004 film entitled “Layer cake”, I will comment on: style, Characters, introduction, plot and the setup.
Throughout the opening sequence, Daniel Craig’s character is portrayed as very clever man, an example of this is the quote: “I’m not a drug dealer, just a business man whose commodity happens to be cocaine” this shows that he’s clever because he has created an almost cover story for his drug dealer, a business man. The character is also portrayed as a shifty character; this is shown by the setting of his business, a dark basement, this creates suspense and tension because the viewer isn’t fully aware of what is going on around the character in question.
At the very start of the opening sequence, the audience straight away hears the monologue of the character played by Daniel Craig, this means that the audience is on the side of Daniel Craig’s character this is because the audience feels that they are on the same level as Daniel Craig.
The first scene of the opening sequence is a reverse zoom of a van, from this we see an almost seventies looking set and a bank robber wielding a sawn off shotgun and commanding the bystanders so that can complete the robbery without any hassle, this automatically gives the audience the impression that the film is going to be crime based. Also in this section there is an explosion, this helps to build tension further because an explosion isn’t part of the daily lives of the audience.
The camera then pans onto innocent woman who’s cowering behind her car as she is terrified of the armed gunmen; this pan leads onto her hair, then a reverse zoom of a room filled with ‘Hippies’ who are smoking Crack Cocaine, these two scenes are linked because the armed gunmen are perhaps stealing drugs which are then used by the hippies. However this pan continues further into a prison, in this prison scene we see the characters from the previous scene, this is effective because this brings the audience back to reality to realise that the world of drug trafficking/consuming is a very risky way of life.
The next scene is of a cosmetics store, in this store there are several bottles of FCUK aftershave however these are all named after drugs, whilst this is a visual aid, Daniel Craig is performing a voice over where he is talking about how lucrative legalising Drugs could be, also the voice over tells us that the character has planned for the event of Drugs being legalised: “Recreational Drugs PLC” is the name of the company that he has planned. The voice over also gives the impression that Daniel Craig’s character doesn’t like the fact that he’s involved in the drugs industry but he knows that’s how to make his one million, this is because of the quote from his monologue: “They won't leave it to people like me when they figure out how much money there is to be made: Not millions, fucking billions” The emphasis of this quote is the “me” this shows that Daniel Craig’s character feels that it is his duty to supply drugs to the people of Britain. Also during this scene in the cosmetic shop the soundtrack is a subtle, soothing tune, this leads us to believe the character is very calm and collected about his business dealings in the drugs business.
The character played by Daniel Craig constantly throughout the opening sequence tries to persuade the audience to ‘Take his side’. An example of this is the quote from the monologue: “I’m not a gangster, I’m a business man whose commodity is cocaine” this shows the audience that he himself doesn’t feel that he’s a Dealer, he just runs a business, therefore the audience feels he’s on the same level.
The audience realises that Daniel Craig is dealing in a very risky but profitable world of drugs at the moment, this is shown by the four large bars of cocaine placed on the table in the Characters basement/house, these bars have the approximate value of twenty eight thousand pounds, therefore there is a total of one hundred and twelve thousand pounds sitting on the desk, this makes the audience realise that drug trafficking can be a very profitable ‘Business’. An interesting part of this scene is the fact that Daniel Craig’s character is wearing a mask whilst preparing the cocaine; this shows us that he himself doesn’t take cocaine; this helps the audience to further relate to the character.
The character that Daniel Craig portrays is shown as the ‘boss’ of his inner circle, we know this because two of his friends are arguing and a quick “Shut up” from Daniel Craig silences their bickering. However, this is all an equilibrium, the disequilibrium is when Gene, Jimmy Price’s (Drug kingpin) right hand man, enters Daniel Craig’s residence and tells him that “Jimmy wants to meet for lunch” This hints that the characters downfall is going to be caused by Jimmy.
In my opinion this is a very good opening sequence to the film, this is because of the various camera techniques and how well it introduces all of the characters into the film.