Neither a luridly enjoyable piece of Scarface-style pulp or a nuanced genre subversion, Idris Elba’s directorial debut is a fitfully entertaining 1980s gangster thriller.
Yardie
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
United Kingdom · 2018
1h 41m
Director Idris Elba
Starring Aml Ameen, Stephen Graham, Shantol Jackson, Calvin Demba
Genre Crime
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Jamaica, 1973. When a young boy witnesses his brother’s assassination, a powerful Don gives him a home. But 10 years later, when he’s sent to London, his past catches up to him.
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A debut of unarguable promise, though – plenty to build on if Elba can resist the adolescent lure of running round with 007’s PPK.
The Observer (UK) by Simran Hans
An over-explanatory voiceover seems to indicate a lack of confidence in the script’s jumbled plotting and laggy pacing. The performances aren’t bad (Ameen’s charisma eclipses the expositional dialogue), but the stakes feel low and the characters gangster-movie generic.
Overall this is a remarkable debut from Elba, and it makes for an engaging, captivating watch.
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