The film's plot revolves around a London-based criminal, played by Daniel Craig, who works in the cocaine trade and wishes to leave the drug business.

[5] The protagonist XXXX (otherwise unnamed) is a London cocaine distributor who abhors violence and operates with the care and professionalism of a legitimate businessman.

His chief associates are his enforcer and partner Morty, and Gene, an Irish gangster who serves as his liaison to mob boss Jimmy Price.

XXXX enlists the con men Cody and Tiptoes to find her; they learn that Charlie has apparently been kidnapped, but are unable to discover who abducted her.

The second task is for XXXX to oversee the purchase of one million ecstasy tablets from the "Duke", a low-level criminal who recently returned to London from Amsterdam with his girlfriend Slasher and crew of thugs led by his right-hand man Gazza.

Having anticipated this double-cross, XXXX arranges Trevor and Shanks to gun down Eddie's men in an armed robbery, take the drugs, and sell them via Dizzy so he can settle his accounts.

The gang assembles for lunch at the Stoke Park Country Club, honouring their new boss, but XXXX declines their offer of leadership and follows up on his initial plan to retire.

Queen's Gate Mews in South Kensington, London, was used as the filming location for the home of Daniel Craig's main character.

[9] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times remarked, "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".

[10] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle remarked on the "efficient, gripping story" and wrote that Craig's performance as an improvising, "intelligent amateur" contained the "cool-yet-humble vibe of Steve McQueen".

[11] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave it a grade A, calling it a "Fast, convulsive, and densely exciting new British gangster thriller".