Matthew Vaughn segued from producing mod British action fare . . . with attitude (LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS/’98) to directing them as well. Here a chucklingly gory tale that pulls the rug out on rival drug dealers as they negotiate rubouts & payoffs. No surprise for a producer adding a directing shingle, he’s stronger at casting his film than executing story & action, not yet able to parse tricky reverses in operations as swaggering wheeler-dealer Daniel Craig pursues early retirement with a deal too big to refuse and an add-on mission to find a rival’s missing daughter . . . or else. The dual assignment playing out like McGuffins we barely care about. So the Spy-vs-Spy confrontations between Craig and other operators suffocate rather than blossom in spite of visual overdrive. Lots of up-and-coming actors to spot (Tom Hardy, Ben Whishaw, wonderful Burn Gorman who’d make a ‘Guppy’ for the ages in next year’s BLEAK HOUSE/’05); as well as top pros like Colm Meaney and Michael Gambon as friend & foe. (Gambon, steals all his scenes as usual, but looks perfectly awful, as if he’d just come off radiation treatment). Craig’s the main draw though. Exceptionally fit, still lithe & youthful, coiled for action & looking downright pretty doing it. Very James Bond ready. (CASINO ROYALE out two years later.) But Vaughn’s film just too cynical for its own good. (The downbeat ending completely unjustified in something this larky.) Later fare progressively successful commercially, and progressively unpleasant to watch.
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